


The One Night Henge

by The_Cherry_Blossom



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Lemon, One Night Stands, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:35:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 61,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26204296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Cherry_Blossom/pseuds/The_Cherry_Blossom
Summary: What happens when two people with an unpleasant history are able to see each other through different eyes? They learn things that they never would have and feel things for each other they never thought they could. Thanks, CherryBerry12 for being such a great beta. Enjoy
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Hatake Kakashi, Shiranui Genma/Yamanaka Ino
Comments: 158
Kudos: 505





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. If I did Sakura would have ended up with Kakashi. R&R please and thank you. Your comments and support are much appreciated. Also don't forget to bookmark for updates.

Sakura sat listening unamused as Ino shared the details of her latest conquest from the night before. They were at a local tea house in the heart of the village for their regular Saturday afternoon lunch together. After losing so many friends and family during the war, they had agreed that they would always make time for each other. Ino had lost her father, leaving only her and her mother. Sakura had lost her teammate, friend and childhood crush Sasuke. They had never been romantically involved, but his death was still painful and she missed him. 

"Hey, Forehead, are you even listening to me?" Ino asked with a raised eyebrow.   
  
Sakura sighed heavily as she looked at Ino. "Sorry, Ino. I was just thinking."   
  
At the age of 19, Sakura had only been on three dates ever and had only one boyfriend (Kiba) whom she had lost her virginity to about six months ago. Honestly it had been a terrible experience.

Things had been going great with Kiba until they had decided to start being intimate. It had been painful and awkward. Kiba didn't have much experience so he had been a bit clumsy despite trying his best to keep his composure. They tried a couple times after that, and it had been less painful but she was still unable to climax. 

Needless to say, Sakura still had yet to have a good sexual experience.

All the while Ino had a whole book of experiences. A few months ago, Ino had told Sakura about an encounter with some Jonin at a local bar. He had approached her and offered to buy her a drink, and Ino accepted of course. According to Ino, before they could even finish their third round they were heading to the back of the bar to the storage room. As soon as the door was locked he had pinned Ino to the wall and taken her right then and there. Sakura had never done anything remotely close to this and Ino was out doing it all the time. Yet Sakura had never heard of Ino's experiences from anyone but Ino herself.

Sakura let out an irritated sigh. Ino letting out a small giggle that brought Sakura back to the conversation.   
  
"Sakura, don't tell me that you're jealous?" Ino asked with a smirk.   
  
Sakura wasn't jealous; she was just amazed at how her friend managed to keep such things so quiet. Being honest with herself, Sakura could admit that she definitely wanted what Ino had. She wanted to know what it was like to have a man please her properly. She wanted to live her life, but she wanted to do it in a way that didn’t earn her a bad reputation.

But that didn’t make Sakura jealous of Ino, right? Okay yeah, maybe she was a little jealous. But she wasn’t about to admit that out loud. "I am not jealous, Ino Pig! I just don't know how you get away with your reputation intact, that's all," she replied defensively. 

Rumors spread fast around their village; Sakura had even heard rumors about Kakashi. She had been at the local bath house when a couple of other women had come in. One was a tall, thin brunette with short hair. The other was a little shorter, with more plump and blond. They were talking about a man one of them had gone home with the night before.

The brunette had approached a Jonin with silver hair in a local bar, they hit things off pretty well and they had ended up leaving the bar together. Sakura instantly knew that the woman was talking about Kakashi, and she was sharing way too much information about their encounter. Apparently, her former sensei was quite the lover and had done things to the brunette that Sakura didn’t even know were possible.    
  
Ino fixed her with a blank face and said, "Easy, you don't be yourself."

  
“Ino, aren’t you supposed to be yourself when looking for a guy?”

“No Sakura, I mean physically. As in your appearance.“ 

  
Sakura looked at the blond with wide eyes when she realized what exactly Ino had just said.   
  
"Ino, you can't be serious?! You actually do that?" Sakura hissed.   
  
"Sure I am. Think about it, Sakura, with a henge you have no reason for reservations. Nobody will know it's you so you can relax, be yourself, and let loose. Nobody can judge you or talk about you if you aren't YOU!" Ino said with a smirk.   
  
"No. No way in HELL am I doing that!"   
  
Ino just shrugged at her friend. "Suit yourself. You asked how I do it and I told you. Besides, how is anyone ever going to know?"   
  
Sakura sat back in her chair, mind rolling over what Ino just said. She had to admit, the girl had a point. If she wasn't herself, then she didn't need to worry about the glares and opinions of others. She could go out have a couple drinks, flirt with some guys and maybe get a positive experience with the opposite sex for once, all without ruining her reputation and completely humiliating herself. 

There was a down side, though. What if the guy she met was great? What if he wanted to see her again? What if she wanted to see him again? Could she really be okay with that?   
  
"I don't know Ino. Isn't that kind of wrong to deceive someone like that?"   
  
"Hardly," the blond snorted. "Look, guys go out all the time with fake names and jobs looking for a woman to take home for one night with no strings attached. We are doing the same thing; we are just smarter about it."   
  
Sakura gave her a weary look. Ino knew if she had any chance of Sakura agreeing to this then she needed to explain it in a way that would make her feel better. Sakura needed this. She was a downright prude most of the time and that's why she had never been able to really enjoy sex. "Don’t give me that look.”

“Sakura, is it deceiving to color your hair or wear make-up?"   
  
"Well, no."

“Then why would using a henge to do it for you be any different?“

“It’s not the same, Ino. Changing into a completely different person all-together is a lot different from changing the color of my hair.”

"Then don’t change that much. Just change your appearance enough that you wouldn't be easily recognized. Like, change your hair and eye color, use a different name and find a guy that you don't know that's looking for the same thing as you. It’s the pretty much the same thing. It's that simple."   
  
Sakura thought for a moment. Maybe this wasn't as complicated as she was making it out to be. If she didn't change much more than the shade of her hair and eyes then it really wouldn't be much different than what other people do. It was definitely a solid way of getting what she was looking for without all the strings attached to it. "All right, I'll think about it. Maybe it won't be so bad."   
  
"That's my girl Sakura! Coming out of her shell at last!" Ino was far too pleased with this.   
  
"But you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone about this. EVER!" Sakura told her. Ino gave her a 'DUH' expression. The last thing she needed was for something like this to blow up in her face.   
  
So now Sakura was standing in front of her full-length mirror looking at her henge self. She was wearing a blue strapless dress with an A-Line skirt that came to about mid-thigh with a pair of white heels strapped to her ankles. Her green eyes were now bright blue, her pink hair now red and pulled into a half up-do. She was a couple inches taller and had made some minor alterations to her face but not too much. She hoped she looked alright—usually Ino helped her get ready when she dressed up to go out.

She had to try a couple of times to get results that she was happy with. At first she tried making her breasts a couple of sizes bigger, thinking that it always seemed to work well for Lady Tsunade and Ino. She quickly realized that none of her dresses would fit up top and had to shrink them back down closer to their actual size. She had also tried making her lips a little fuller, but they just looked awkward. After her lips and breasts, Sakura didn’t dare go for her nose. She figured she was not easily recognizable by anyone that she could possibly run into.    
  
With a deep breath and one last glance at herself, she grabbed her clutch and headed out the door to the local bar.

* * *

  
  


Kakashi sat at the old bar in the Rusty Shuriken under his disguise henge, Sukea. Really, he looked virtually the same. He was still the same build and the same height—even his face was the same (not that anyone would know that) just minus the scar and mask. The biggest difference was his silver hair was now brown, his dark blue eyes were hazel, and he was wearing civilian clothes. Just the absence of his ever present mask and Jonin uniform made him practically unrecognizable to most people as it was.

He tried not to make a habit out of using the henge to hide from people—usually he used it to play jokes and tricks on people. Normally he wouldn't mind spending Saturday evening at the bar with his friends, but that day had been a long day for Kakashi and all he wanted was to have a few drinks without being bothered by the numerous people sure to come in that night. So, he sat there sipping casually on the dark liquid in his glass, intent on blocking out all else in the bar. That is, until she came and sat next to him.   
  
To say that Sakura was nervous was an understatement. She felt the eyes and smirks directed at her when she walked into the bar and couldn't help but be a little flattered. With her eyes straight ahead, she made her way to the bar and took the first empty seat she came across. She slid onto the barstool and waved to the bartender. When the bartender arrived, she placed her order for a Long Island, knowing it was a drink with a kick. She was counting on the alcohol to help her relax a bit; worst case scenario, she was a medic and could flush alcohol from her system in seconds if she needed to. 

When he came back with her drink and set it in front of her, she began pulling money out to pay for it when a deep, smooth voice spoke, "You can add the ladies drink to my tab." 

Sakura turned to address the man sitting next to her with a small blush on her face.   
"That really isn't necessary." She said. Realizing that she might be coming off as a prude, she decided that maybe she should let him buy her a drink. 

Ino’s stories usually started off with the guy buying her a drink, so maybe this is how these things were supposed to go.

He turned and looked at her, eyes locking with hers before he shrugged dismissively. Kakashi couldn't help but notice the very pretty blush that had crept up on her face. She was a very attractive woman to say the least. Her figure was just the way he liked. She had smooth, creamy skin, long toned legs, and breasts that he was sure would fit perfectly into the palms of his hands. That, topped off with a beautiful face (that oddly seemed a bit familiar) Kakashi couldn't help the slight stir in his belly.   
  
Sakura couldn't deny that the man in front of her was an attractive one. One who, if she had been her normal self, she would never have had the courage to talk to. He was tall and lean with brown hair and hazel eyes. He had a firm jaw line, straight nose, and high cheekbones. He wore casual pants that were a bit loose and a dark short sleeve shirt that slightly hugged his well-defined biceps. It was a little nerve wracking, but then again that was the point of all this, right? The henge was here as a type of shield for those fears. With that thought, Sakura took a calming breath and spoke.   
  
"Thank you! My name is Saki by the way," she said with a shy smile.   
  
Kakashi couldn't help but smirk to himself. "Sukea," he said, holding her gaze. He then turned to the bartender to order them both another round.   
  
Two hours and several drinks later, Sakura was beyond tipsy. She had started to burn off the alcohol with her chakra about an hour ago—none of this would go well if she couldn’t maintain her henge because she was too drunk. Things did seem to be moving in the right direction, and she couldn't ignore the shoulder rubs and knee bumps from the man next to her. "I've never seen you around here before, Sukea. Are you new to Konoha or just passing through?” she asked, curiosity getting the best of her.   
  
"I'm just passing through, work related stuff and what not. I tend to stop by every few months," he said simply.   
  
"So, you'll be leaving soon then, huh?"   
  
"First thing in the morning," he answered with a slight nod.   
  
"How do you usually spend your nights in Konoha?" she asked with a shy smile.   
  
Kakashi looked at the woman sitting next to him and contemplated if she was asking what he thought she was. Only one way to find out. "I usually have a few drinks then return to my hotel room for the night. But I'm always up for a change in routine. Especially if that change is the company of a beautiful woman."    
  
Sakura could only blink at the man in front of her. Did he just imply he would like for her to go back to his room with him?  _ Well, this is what you wanted, isn't it? _ She thought to herself. With that, she gave him a nod of her head and he threw some money on the bar and they were out the door.

* * *

  
  


It was a short walk to his hotel. Less than five minutes later they were stumbling into a dark hotel room, lips locked and tongues intertwined. As they stumbled their way to the bed Kakashi searched her body for the zipper to the dress she was wearing, while she fumbled with the buttons of his shirt. 

When Sakura's back hit the bed she suddenly stopped, realizing the extent of the situation she was in and what exactly they were about to do. Her thoughts must have shown on her face for a moment because Sukea paused and stared down at her intently before he spoke. "Is this okay? We can stop if you want to," he asked. There was a bit of a slur in his voice, but also some concern.   
  
It had been a long while since Kakashi had been with a woman. He couldn’t lie and say that he didn’t want Saki. He did, but he wanted her to want him just as badly.   
  
Sakura took a moment and shook her head. "No, I want to. It's just..."   
  
"Just what?" Kakashi asked.   
  
"I haven't really done this a lot," she said sheepishly.   
  
His eyes went wide for a moment at her confession before relaxing again with a chuckle. "Don't worry, I've got you." And with that he covered her mouth again with his own in a searing kiss.   
  
She moaned quietly into his mouth, and he moved his kisses to her jaw and down her neck. He had been fumbling around trying to get her dress off for a few minutes now and Sakura was starting to think he just might rip the damn thing off instead. A moment later he found the zipper and pulled it down in one quick tug. Grabbing a hold of the blue fabric he pulled it down and off her body onto the floor, pleased to see she wasn't wearing a bra. 

She clumsily slid her hands up the hard planes of his chest and over his shoulders to slide his shirt down, his muscled back, tossing it aside to join her dress on the floor. He trailed hot open-mouthed kisses down her chest until he got to the small pink peak of her right breast and wrapped his mouth around it then brought his hand up to knead the left one. 

He loved how responsive she was to his touch. He had women before that were active in bed, but this one was on another level entirely. She moved and reacted to his touch like she was made for him.   
  
Sakura's body was on fire. She had never felt such things before and it was amazing. With every touch to her skin it felt like sparks. She was panting and withering with his every move like her body had a mind of its own. All of these new and wonderful feelings were almost too much for her. She never knew that someone could make her feel this good. 

All thoughts went out the window when she felt him trailing further down her body, hooking his finger into the hem of her panties and dragging them down her legs as he went.  _ He wasn't really about to do THAT to her, was he? _ She took a chance and glanced down at him. Sure enough, his destination was clear. Completely mortified, Sakura quickly tried to close her legs to keep him from his destination, but only succeeded in trapping his head between them.   
  
Kakashi stopped when he felt her legs snap shut around his head. He looked up at her and saw the uncertainty on her face.  _ Ah, I get it. _ "Have you never had this done to you before?" he asked, already pretty sure he knew the answer. 

She shook her head, a deep blush spreading across her face. "Don't worry, you'll enjoy this." With that, he dove his face between her legs lapping, swirling his tongue, and sucking mercilessly.

Her breaths got shorter and her moans loader—he knew she was close. Sakura could feel her control on her chakra slipping, and she was pretty sure she had felt her eyes change back to green. Thankfully Sukea’s head was down and he hadn’t noticed.

To help push her over the edge, he took one large finger and inserted it into her heat, moving it in and out of her, giving it a curl upward to hit that spot. It wasn't long before he felt her inner walls clamp down around his finger as she cried out her climax. 

That was Sakura’s first real orgasm. The few times she had been with Kiba he had never been able to fully bring her to climax. She had been completely unprepared for the intensity of it all, for the waves and waves of pleasure that wracked her body.

_ Kami, he isn't even inside of me yet and already he is making me feel better than I ever have. _ Kakashi decided to take the opportunity to slide out of his pants and boxers before resuming his place on top of her.   
  
As Sakura came down from her high, she went limp on the bed feeling boneless. Sukea crawled his way back up her body to settle his hips on hers. She felt him rubbing his hard member across her wet folds. It sent a pleasant shiver down her spine just thinking about it going in her. 

She wouldn't have to wait much longer. He looked down at her and asked, "Are you ready for me?" She nodded, and with one quick thrust of his hips he was buried in her to the hilt, both of them moaning out at the sensation of their bodies joining. 

He made a long deep thrust inside of her, loving the way she arched and gasped with his every push. She was so tight and wet around him; she felt absolutely amazing. Sakura had one hand on his head running her fingers through his hair, while the other was gripping the hard muscles on his back. 

Instinctively, she brought her long lean legs up to wrap around his hips, which only helped him to thrust deeper inside of her. Sucking on the sensitive spot under her ear, he thrust in and out of her determined to hear more of those beautiful sounds. 

With a grind here, a roll of the hips there, reaching down between their bodies he used his thumb to rub slow circles over her clit and with a hard thrust her back was arching up off the bed, eyes skewed shut in pleasure and mouth hung open in a silent scream. She thrashed and withered under him, the pleasure more intense than anything she had ever felt. 

Falling back down onto the bed breathing heavily, Sakura tried to regain her composure. Apparently Sukea had other plans, because soon she felt strong hands scooping her ass up and back. Before she knew what was happening, she was on all four, ass in the air on full display for him. She felt his strong grip on her hips and she could hear him chuckling behind her. 

Then he was leaning over her to whisper huskily in her ear. "I'm nowhere near done with you yet." He was inside her again and this time at an even fast pace than before, his speed only increasing. Soon he was thrusting into her as fast and as deep as he could, his pace relentless but no less pleasurable.

Sakura could feel that hot liquid pooling in her lower belly again. Her inner walls were clenching furiously and she had a tingling ecstasy running throughout her body. She could tell that this next orgasm would be even bigger than the first two and was trying to prepare herself for what was surely about to come. 

Gripping the sheets as tightly as she could, she was once again clamping down on him as the waves of pleasure washed over her body. With a few more ragged thrusts, he followed after her with a low groan and a bruising grip on her hips.   
  
Once he had emptied himself deep inside of her, he slowly pulled out and flopped down on the bed beside her. He gave her a handsome lopsided grin when their eyes met. They lay there for a few moments trying to catch their breath.   
  
"Wow," Sakura breathed out after a few minutes.   
  
"Yeah," was all he said.   
  
Kakashi laid there for a moment, silently wishing he had met Saki as himself. There was no denying the connection they had and it would have been nice to see where this would have gone if he weren't pretending to be someone that didn't even actually exist. Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, he turned to her and asked, "Saki, I'm going to rinse off, care to join me?"   
  
His voice brought her back from her half-asleep state. At her fake name, she remembered that she wasn't Sakura right now and couldn't fall asleep near this man because her henge would fade. Turning to look at him, "No, that's alright. I should actually get going. I have to be at work early in the morning." With that, she climbed out of bed and began redressing herself. He didn't speak while she readied herself to leave because, really, what could he say?   
  
When she had herself somewhat presentable to walk home, she turned and gave him a smile. "Thank you for tonight. I really did enjoy it."   
  
"Same here, maybe I'll see you next time I'm in town."  _ But I doubt it _ , he said to himself.   
  
"Yeah, maybe."  _ Not likely. _ She thought.   
  
"See you around, Sukea."   
  
"See you around, Saki."   
  
With that, she walked out of the room and made her way home. Unable to keep out the thoughts of 'what if.' What if she had met him as Sakura and not as Saki? Could there have been more to this than just one night of mind-blowing sex? Could there have been something more? 

She pushed those thoughts out as quickly as they came, because it just wasn't possible. Even if he had felt it too, nothing good can be based on deception. On the other hand, Ino had a point_ it was just sex, so she shouldn’t feel too bad about it. Keeping that thought, she continued on her way home for a good night sleep and hell of a story to tell Ino the next day.


	2. Chapter 2

Kakashi had been making his way to one of his usual hiding spots to spend the day reading in a tree when he had inadvertently drawn the attention of a fellow Jonin, Genma. He had apparently been looking for Kakashi for the better half of the morning—apparently, they’d been summoned to the Hokages office first thing that morning. 

Kakashi hadn't gone back to his apartment last night after his encounter with Saki, opting to drop by his apartment just long enough to change clothes and head back out to one of his usual hiding spots. But it would seem fate had other plans for him. Oh well. Turning on his heel, he and Genma walked at a lazy pace to Hokage Tower.

When he reached Tsunade’s office, he knocked twice before cracking the door open to poke his head inside.

"You summoned me, Tsunade-Sama?" he drawled.

"Kakashi, it's about time you showed up. You were supposed to be here over an hour ago," she snapped as she opened a small drawer at her desk and pulled out a mission scroll. "I have a mission for you."

"I assumed as much," he replied as he made his way into the office to stand in front of her desk.

"Don't get smart with me, Hatake," Tsunade warned with narrowed eyes. "You are to take this scroll to a town called Fukui and give it to a man named Hiro. It should only take the two of you less than a week to complete, there and back. You will be taking Genma with you on this mission. All the details you need are in here," she told him as she handed him the scroll and sat back in her chair. "You can leave in the morning. Now get out of my office; I have work to do."

"Understood, Hokage-Sama," Kakashi said before turning to the door to leave. Making his way down the stairs with his hands shoved deep in his pockets, he reached the doors leading outside where Genma was waiting for him. It had become routine for them to go to one of the local bars to discuss mission details before heading home to pack. With Team Kakashi being officially dismantled after the war, Kakashi was either doing solo missions or had Genma as a partner.

Sasuke had died during the war, and Naruto was out traveling with Jiraiya again. Yamato and Sai had both returned to ANBU and Sakura was a full-time medic at the hospital now, only taking missions that required a healer of her caliber. It left Kakashi with really only two options—retire or go back on the mission roster. Kakshi had absolutely no desire to retire: being a shinobi was the only life he knew. Besides, it wasn't like he had a family or even a significant other in his life. He really had no reason to stop taking missions, especially when there were plenty of other shinobi in the village who did have someone to go home to. 

Sighing as he opened the large door leading out of the Hokage building, he pulled out his worn and faded orange book and started down the busying street towards the entertainment district, Genma falling in step beside him as usual.

When they reached the bar, they made their way to their usual booth in the back corner of the room. Taking a seat and stuffing his book back in his hip pouch, Kakashi pulled out the mission scroll and started going over the details and strategizing with Genma. When the busty dark-haired waitress arrived to take their order, it didn't escape the two Jonin that she was paying special attention to Kakashi. 

Genma smirked at the overzealous woman, knowing full well what her interest was in his friend. Kakashi however couldn't help but internally cringe at the woman's antics. It wasn't uncommon for Kakashi to have women throwing themselves at him. He had never found it very attractive—if anything the forwardness was a bit of a turn off. He liked his women spunky, and strong willed, but women like this were just exhausting. After assuring the woman that they wouldn't need anything else and requesting to be disturbed as little as possible, she took her leave and finally left the men to themselves.

* * *

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Sakura slowly sat up in bed. She squinted at the bright rays of light coming in through her bedroom window, then looked over to her nightstand to check the time. Ugh, 11:00am already. 

She had barely gotten five hours of sleep, not arriving back home until the sun started peeking over the village wall.  _ Good thing it's my day off _ , she thought. Memories of the night before and exactly why she had only gotten five hours of sleep immediately flooded her mind. 

Shaking her head to clear the thoughts, she sighed and decided it was time to get up. She had promised Ino that she would go see her today to tell her about last night. She threw the blankets off her body and slid off the bed. Making her way to her closet, she quickly picked out a simple outfit, a red top with some white shorts. After dressing herself, she brushed through her pink hair then slipped on her sandals and was out to find Ino.

Ino was sitting behind the countertop reading a magazine when Sakura walked into the flower shop. As she approached the counter, Ino put down the magazine, sure that whatever brought her friend into the flower shop was going to be far more interesting.

Standing up and gesturing for Sakura to follow, Ino said, “Let's go in the back. Too many ears out here."

"All right Forehead, spill," Ino demanded as soon as they got to the back of the store.

"Nice to see you too, Pig," Sakura practically growled at her friend.

Rolling her blue eyes, "Sakura, don't clam up on me now!" she whined, "You promised me details. Dirty ones, preferably.”

Sakura plopped down at the table to join Ino, "Okay, it was amazing," she squealed. "The man definitely knew what he was doing. From start to finish, there was never a dull moment. He was a great kisser and he did this thing, with his mouth, you know down there. Oh my god, Ino!"

It was odd to actually talk about this kind of thing. Normally Sakura was sitting in Ino's position, hanging on to every detail to live vicariously through her friend. Sakura was still fairly new and still very inexperienced in world of sex and pleasure, but at least she had something to contribute now.

"I knew it would work,” Ino exclaimed, "It's always worked out good for me. So, when are you going to do it again?" she asked.

Sakura snapped her green eyes to meet Ino's blue ones. Her brows raised in slight surprise. "Oh no, Pig. I am not doing it again."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because Ino, it was a one-time thing. No offense, but it's not something I want to get into the habit of doing. I just don't feel right sleeping with someone while pretending to be someone else." 

It was true. Sakura had never intended to try the one-night henge again. Hell, she wasn't even sure she could go through with it when she did it. She just seemed to get caught up in the moment with Sukea. With all his expert touches and talk, it helped her to relax and live in the moment with nothing but the feeling of the things he was doing to her. She got what she was looking for last night and didn't see any reason to go out looking for it again. 

Besides, she really didn't like deceiving someone into taking her to bed, it was a big reason why Sakura had never taken on a seduction mission before. Even after realizing that her crush on Sasuke was just a little girl's crush, she still believed that sharing her body with someone should not be taken lightly, that something that brought two people so close together should not be taken for granted. 

She had made it a point in life to only share herself with someone who deserved it. last night would be a ONE TIME THING.

"Fine," Ino huffed. "Well, at least go out with me this weekend."

"Ino, I just told you..."

"I know what you just told me, Forehead. I'm just talking about going out, a girl's night. You don't have to leave with anyone but me."

Sakura gave her an incredulous look. "Promise?"

"Promise!"

"Fine."

"YAY."

* * *

After Kakashi and Genma had finished laying out the details of the mission for the next day, they decided to order a few rounds and have a more casual conversation.

"Seriously, you should have been there. I'm telling you; the girls were absolutely delectable." Genma was telling Kakashi about a men's lounge he and a few other Jonin had gone to the night before. "I mean, these girls really knew how to entertain, if you know what I mean."

"I had my own entertainment last night, and I have to say, I can't complain either," Kakashi replied with his usual bored expression.

Genma's eyes went wide as his mouth formed a smirk. "So, that's where you were last night. Well, don't hold back. Give me the details."

"Well," he said as he leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. "She was definitely... Entertaining." Kakashi had always been a private man, never one to share too much information with others. He felt it was disrespectful towards the woman involved and there were just some things that shouldn't be shared with others.

"That's it? What was her name? What did she look like? Is she worth a second round?" Genma bombarded.

She was indeed worth seeing again. He knew that fairly quickly. The problem was that he had not been himself when he had bedded that woman. The man she met and left the bar with was not Kakashi Hatake the Copy Ninja of the Leaf. No, the man she had given herself to was Sukea, something Kakashi had been battling himself with all day. 

He would be lying if he said he didn't feel guilty for deceiving her the way he did. It hadn't been intentional; he had not been planning to take a woman home that night, it just happened that way. "She would be worth it. But no, I don't think that I will be seeing her again."

"If it's worth going back for seconds then why not?" Curiosity and confusion were clear on Genma's face.

"Honestly, because the man she went home with wasn't me. It was my henge."

Genma's brown eyes went wide. "It wasn't intentional Genma. It's not what I was going for when I went out." 

Regaining his composure, Genma felt the need to clarify. "So, she has no idea who you really are?" Kakashi simply shook his head. "Did you even get her name?"

"I did, actually. It’s Saki. She didn't tell me much more than that, but I'm fairly certain that she is a local."

"And what did you tell her?"

"Nothing much really, and what I did tell her wasn’t exactly true. She thinks I'm a traveling photographer from Grass and only pass through Konoha occasionally."

Next thing Kakashi knew, Genma was in full hysterics over the situation. "Man, you really got the act down." He was laughing so hard that his senbon had fallen out of his mouth and now lay on the table top.

"It's not like I do this all the time," Kakashi defended. It was partially true; he had played the role of Sukea several times over the years, usually for semi innocent-purposes such as pranks and jokes and sometimes if a mission had a need for it. However, he had never used it to get a woman into his bed. It just seemed immoral. If a woman didn't want to give herself to him, when changing himself into someone else was just wrong. Last night had just been a fluke.

"Well, maybe you should. It's perfect, I only wish I had thought of it." Kakashi only scowled at Genma as he continued to laugh hysterically at the situation. "Speaking of beautiful women," Genma said with a raised brow.

Turning in his seat, Kakashi followed Genma's line of sight. There, shuffling through a crowd of people he caught sight of creamy skin and RED. He immediately jumped out of his seat to follow after the alluring colors. As he weaved through the crowd, he got close enough to reach out and grab a smooth creamy arm. When the woman turned to face him, instead of being presented with red hair and blue eyes as he had hoped, he was met with pink hair and green eyes.

"Sakura."

After Ino had finished her shift at the flower shop, she and Sakura were making their way back to Sakura's house when they passed by a local eatery. Ino suggested they stop in and get some food before heading back to the house so that they wouldn't have to cook. 

As they made their way through the establishment with Ino in the lead, Sakura was secretly hoping to run into Sukea again. She knew it was ridiculous; he had told her last night that he would be leaving first thing that morning. She had just started to remind herself that even if she did see him there, it wasn’t like he would recognize her. Then she felt a strong hand gently grab her upper arm. Turning around to meet the owner of the hand, she came face to face with a stunned Kakashi.

"Oh, hello, Kakashi-sensei," she greeted him warmly.

He stared at her for a moment before releasing her arm and shoving his hands deep into his pockets.  _ Sensei. _ He hated when she called him that. He hadn’t held that title in several years and he had never really been one to her in the first place. "Sorry about that, Sakura."

"It's alright, Kakashi-sensei. Did you need me for something?" she asked, a little confused. He never approached her like this. They had never been close, even when they were on the same team, and they had only drifted further apart after the dismantling of said team. Now they only saw each other in passing. If he even bothered to notice her, she would give him a warm smile and maybe a wave. In return, he would give her a short nod and they would both continue on their way.

"Uh, No. I actually thought that you were someone else," he replied, his face as unreadable as ever. He would be lying if he said that he hadn’t been hoping that it was Saki he had seen, but then he figured it was probably best that this wasn't Saki seeing as she wouldn't know who he was if he had approached her. 

SeeingSakura wasn't much better. He barely knew the girl despite having technically known her for several years. They had never really had any moments to share, neither one of them really seeking the attention of the other. That's partially why he pushed for her to train under Tsunade—he knew that she would be far better off with her than she ever would be with him. 

He had failed her in more ways than one already.

Sakura couldn't help but be a little hurt. It was the first time he had spoken to her or even come within an arm's reach of her in over two years, and even then it was only because he thought she was someone else. She knew they weren't close, but she was a little surprised when he pretty much stopped acknowledging her existence after she left to train with Tsunade. She had always admired him and it stung a little that he was able to shrug her off so easily. 

Sakura shoved all those thoughts and feelings aside, doing her best to hide them away from her former sensei. "Who were you looking for, Sensei?"

"It doesn't matter," he said with a matter-of-fact tone. "I should be going; I have a mission to prepare for."

"Oh. Well, it was good seeing you again, Sensei. Maybe we can spar when you get back?" Sakura asked sweetly.

Despite the tone in her voice, Kakashi noticed an emotion cross her face. It was only for a split second, but it held a striking resemblance to hurt. No, what reason would Sakura have to feel hurt by Kakashi? It's not like they were close or made a habit of spending time together. He convinced himself that it was something else, that he had misinterpreted the split-second emotion he had seen.

"Yeah, sure. I'll reach out to you when I get back," he told her as he turned on his heel and made his way towards the door. Giving a lazy wave over his head, he made his way out the door and down the street before she could say another word. He went home to pack his gear and supplies for the coming mission, determined to keep a certain red-haired spit fire woman off his mind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay everyone sorry about the wait. Chapter 3 is officially here now. Hope you all enjoy and please remember to R&R.

The weather in Konoha was so beautiful this time of year. It was late September, the beginning of fall season. The sun was still shining but the bit of cool air they had made for great temperatures and beautiful scenery. In a few weeks, the leaves would start to turn. It was Saturday again and Sakura was strolling through the local market, stopping at little stands to look at trinkets and such.

One of the stands she passed by had a display of beautiful jewelry. Sakura didn’t own much jewelry, she could never justify spending that kind of money on herself for no reason other than because she wanted to. She had always admired how Ino’s boyfriends always bought her jewelry for special occasions.

She set her eyes on a necklace with a green pendant on a silver chain that seemed to match her eyes almost exactly. It really was a beautiful necklace but as usual Sakura talked herself out of getting it, by telling herself that the money could be used for more important things. 

She sighed and made her way out of the market before she came across anything else to deny herself, she would be late to meet Ino if she didn’t leave soon anyways. Meeting up with Ino always brought back memories of other friends too. Some were gone forever like Sasuke, some for a little while like Naruto and some weren’t gone at all but might as well be like Kakashi.

As she walked she passed by Ichiraku Ramen, she thought back to the events that tore apart the original Team 7.

When the final battle of the war came, Naruto had faced off against Sasuke for the last time. Naruto, trying to protect the people and the home he loved. Sasuke had been one of those people but, motivated only by hate to destroy everything in his path, had been driven insane by the power of the Rinnegan. 

It was just like the fight they had on the roof of the hospital in their Genin days. Only now they were a few years older and much more powerful. Naruto with his Rasenga and Sasuke with his Chidori, they had charged at each other at full speed. Sakura had tried standing between them in hopes of getting one or both of them to stop.

Kakashi had ran towards the three of them clearly intent on putting a stop to the fight. But to Sakura's surprise, instead of tackling one of the boys Kakashi had gone straight for her. Knocking her to the ground just before Naruto and Sasuke collided in a burst of wind and lightning. Both hitting their mark in the center of each other's chest.

Both Naruto’s and Sasuke’s attacks caused fatal injuries to the other. Sakura couldn’t save both of them and she had decided to save Naruto, knowing full well that she was essentially leaving Sasuke to die. Kakashi just sat there staring at the three of them wordlessly. Unbeknownst the three of them, he was silently berating and blaming himself for all that had happened. 

It was a hard decision to make because Sasuke hadn’t been evil; he’d just been lost. The weight of his death fell heavy on all three remaining members of Team 7, and they’d all taken different paths after they returned home. 

Naruto had left the village again to once again throw himself into training. 

He had felt like a failure for not being able to bring Sasuke back home alive. When he left, he had told Sakura that he needed to do this, that he could never accept the position as Hokage if he didn’t. _ “How can I become Hokage and protect the whole village if I can’t even save my best friend?” Naruto had told her, looking more defeated than she had ever seen him before.  _

That was two years ago. She often wondered when he would come back.

Sakura began working at the hospital full time. She didn’t mind it—she preferred the hospital over field work. She had her fill of ‘field experience’ during the war, and she was happy to stay at the hospital to save lives rather than take them. She took missions when they required a highly skilled medic, but those were far and few between.

As for Kakashi… well, he was Kakashi. He remained as elusive and anti-social as ever. In fact, Sakura was pretty sure he was even more so since they had returned home. Sakura had tried to keep in touch with him after Naruto left, but he seemed to be purposely avoiding her. 

He never stopped to talk to her when they saw each other, he never checked up on her, and last year he had even requested a different medic when he’d gone to the hospital. Sakura would be lying if she said that it hadn’t hurt. Did he really hate her THAT much?

Sakura silently wondered if him pushing her away had anything to do with her choosing to save Naruto's life instead of Sasuke’s. He was family to Obito, and Kakashi had always seemed drawn to Sasuke. Before Sakura could dive too much into that thought, she abruptly stopped in her tracks at the sight before her.

About ten feet away from her was Kiba, and he wasn’t alone. He was sitting on a bench with a woman—a nurse from the hospital, Sakura realized, who had once shadowed Sakura on her morning rounds. 

The two of them were obviously too involved with their activity to notice Sakura. Kiba had his hands up her shirt, hers were around his neck and she was in his lap with their tongues tied together. 

Sakura was actually thankful for that. She and Kiba had not ended on the best of terms—he had broken up with her about four months ago, explaining that they weren’t sexually compatible. When she had asked him to elaborate he referred to her as ‘frigid.’ 

Detouring around the two, Sakura went inside the tea house to find Ino already waiting. She walked over to the table and immediately plopped down in the seat across from her friend. 

“What’s with you, Forehead?” Ino asked.

“That!” Sakura told her and tilted her head towards Kiba and the nurse. 

Ino turned her head to see the cozy couple. Understanding her friend’s distaste, she turned back to her friend and waved her hand dismissively. “Forget it, Sakura. Kiba is in for a rude awakening.”

“What do you mean?”

“She has a reputation!”

“Ino, I think that’s what he is looking for,” Sakura said dryly.

Ino laughed. “Well, yeah. But she dips out after a time or two; she only does this to make her boyfriend jealous after a bad argument.”

All Sakura could say was “oh” before the waiter arrived. 

Both girls gave the waiter their orders and then he was off to give it to the kitchen and the girls fell into silence.

“Let’s go out tonight,” Ino suggested in an attempt to change the mood.

It had been a week since Sakura’s night with Sukea, and she had been thinking about him and that night all week. She couldn’t help but wonder when he would come through the village again and if he would look for her. 

“Come on, Sakura. You need to unwind!”

It was true; Sakura had had a very long week at the hospital. There was a team that came on Wednesday that were barely clinging to life, it took her fourteen hours to save them both. On top of that she had a spinal reconstruction with Tsunade on Friday that took eleven hours.

While all of these things were good reasons for Sakura to unwind, they were also the majority of the reasons she didn’t want to go. She was mentally and physically exhausted and the current state of things in her life was weighing on her.

Although, maybe this is just what she needed. Maybe she just needed a girls night out with her best friend. “Yeah, I think I’d like that Ino.”

“Great, I’ll meet you at your house at seven.”

  
  
  


* * *

  
  


Completing the mission had been easy enough. The only interference they had was a run in with a small group of missing-nin on their way to Fukui. There had only been six of them and they’d all been near Chunin-level except for their leader. He was easily Jonin-level, if not stronger. 

If it had been Kakashi alone on the mission, he might have had trouble with the missing-nin simply due to being outnumbered, but having Genma there with him made it an easy fight for the two of them.

Unfortunately, two of the men had escaped along with the leader. Kakashi had decided not to chase after the three since capturing them hadn’t been their objective, but delivering the scroll on time was.

After dealing with the stragglers, Kakashi and Genma continued on to Fukui and made it there on schedule and without further incident. 

Now Kakashi and Genma were making their way back to Konoha, leaping from tree to tree at top speed. The trees were flying by quickly, the leaves on them nothing but a blur of colors.

As they traveled through the trees, Kakashi couldn’t keep his mind from drifting off to the woman who had occupied most of his thoughts this week. He had told himself that he would not seek her out when he returned from his mission, but the closer they got to the village gates the more she plagued his mind.

Almost every night this week Kakashi’s dreams had been filled with Saki’s responsive body and soft feminan moans. Her smooth creamy skin, vibrant red hair, and blue eyes… or were they green? In the dim light of the bar they had looked blue, but he seemed to remember them being bright green when he had looked down at her. 

Kakashi and Genma quickly made their way down the empty streets of Konoha and up the stairs of the Hokage Tower. An hour later, they had finished the debriefing with Tsunade and headed towards the entertainment district. They were going to their usual spot, the Rusty Shuriken, to have a few drinks and unwind before heading home.

* * *

  
  


“Sakura, I’m here,” Ino shouted as she made her way through the house towards Sakura’s bedroom.

Looking at the clock on her nightstand, Sakura realized it was 7:00pm. “Shit. Already?” she grumbled in frustration. Ino was right on time, of course—she was never late to anything fun.

At lunch, Ino had suggested that they be in their henge forms when they went out tonight. Sakura agreed because she did enjoy blending in with the crowd. The problem was that now Sakura felt like she had nothing that looked right on her. She had bought all of her clothes for herself, not this body. 

It really shouldn’t have been this much trouble; she didn’t look that much different from her usual self.

“I don’t have anything to wear, Ino,” Sakura told her in defeat as she flopped back on her bed.

Instead of comforting her, Ino simply walked over to Sakura’s closet and began skimming through her clothes. After a minute or two, she grabbed a dark red flared skirt and a tight black top. It was perfect, and had taken Ino two minutes to throw together.

“How do you do that? I looked at that top three times over the past hour,” Sakura huffed. 

“You think about it too much,” Ino answered with her hands on her hips. “Now, get dressed.”

Sakura scrambled up from her bed, grabbing the outfit Ino had picked out and hastily dressing.

“Hurry up, Sakura! I want to go have some fun,” Ino yelled from the doorway of Sakura’s bedroom.

“Shut it. Ino; I’m coming,” Sakura snapped back before grabbing her clutch and heading towards the door. 

  
  
  


After Sakura had locked her front door, she turned to link arms with Ino and they headed off to the entertainment district.

“Where are we going anyways Ino? You never told me.”

“We are going to The Rusty Shurinken,” Ino answered with a suggestive smirk. Sakura knew what Ino was up to; they had been friends a long time and Sakura knew her well. She was trying to get Sakura to run into Sukea again. _ Oh well, what are the odds of him coming back only a week later? _

* * *

Kakashi and Genma were sitting at a table close to the bar; they had been there for about an hour now and were a couple drinks in. Kakashi was sipping his drink slowly and trying to relax but it was hard with Genma drawing his attention to the door every five minutes while scoping out the bar for potential company for the night.

“Ohhh, that’s what I’m talking about. Kakashi; check out the red head and the brunette that just walked in” Genma said getting Kakashi’s full attention this time. Turning to look at the door, Kakashi nearly spit his drink out when he laid eyes on none other than Saki.

“Holy shit! It’s her” Kakashi mumbled as he watched the girls make their way to the bar.

“Wait, it’s who?”

“Saki, the red haired one is Saki,” Kakashi explained.

“You mean your spit fire one-night stand from last week?”

Kakashi gave a short nod. 

“Oh, this is great. Call them over here.”

“No.”

“What do you mean no? Just walk up and ask them if they want to join us.”

“I can’t.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because she wouldn’t recognize me! I used a henge, remember?” He couldn’t just casually call over a couple of girls who didn’t know him. He would look like a creep. 

“All you have to do is go to the bathroom, do the henge, and then on your way back out ‘casually’ bump into her as if you just saw her here.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously.”

“No!”

“Alright then. I didn’t want to do this, but you’re not leaving me much of a choice here. Do you remember that favor I did for you last month?”

Kakashi did remember. He had traded an overnight shift with Genma in exchange for Kakashi being his wingman for a night out. He knew where this was going and simply narrowed his eyes at his friend.

“Yeah, I thought you would. I’m cashing it in, right now!”

“Fine, but this is your one time. Don’t try to ‘cash in’ again later,” he said and pushed up from the table to head for the bathroom, casually passing behind the two women who were waiting for their drinks. He slipped into the bathroom, locked the door and quickly went through the hand seals for the henge. 

Kakashi took a quick look at himself in the mirror and slipped back out into the main bar area.

* * *

Sakura and Ino were standing at the bar ordering drinks when a familiar head of messy silver hair passed behind them. Sakura momentarily froze at the sight of Kakashi but quickly relaxed.  _ So he’s back from his mission, huh?  _

Sakura wondered for a moment whether he would reach out to her in the next couple of days like he said that he would. 

The bartender returned with their drinks and they turned away from the bar intending to look for an open table.

“I don’t see anything open, do you?” Ino asked.

“I don’t either. Maybe if we…” But her statement was cut short by the sight of a figure she recognized heading straight for them. It was Sukea; he was actually there.

“Ino, that’s him. That’s Sukea, they guys from last week,” Sakura whispered to her friend.

Looking in the direction Sakura had indicated, Ino’s eyes set on a man walking towards them. She and Sakura had been talking about him all week so Ino pretty much had his description memorized. That, and the fact that he was staring right at Sakura with a telling look in his eyes.

“Nice. You weren’t kidding, were you?”

“Shhhh, before he hears you,” Sakura warned just before Sukea came face to face with her.

“Saki! I didn’t expect to run into you here tonight, but I can’t say that I’m disappointed,” he said with that handsome lopsided grin.

Sakura could feel the heat rising in her body and a deep blush that was now covering her face. Oh she was definitely in trouble tonight if he keeps up that charm he has now. “I. Uh, I wanted to see you too.” She blurted out before she could stop herself.  _ Why? Why did I say that? Now he probably thinks I’m some clingy girl who gets all attached after one night.  _

Her self-reprimand was interrupted by a loud and obvious throat clearing coming from Ino, who was still standing beside her. “Oh, I’m sorry. How rude of me, This is my friend Niko. Niko, this is Sukea.” Sakura said, gesturing between the two. 

“Nice to meet you, Sukea. We just got here and were trying to find an open table,” Ino said while flipping her brown hair over her shoulder.

Kakashi’s eyes went to the woman standing next to Saki. She was tall and lean with long brown hair and big brown eyes. She was wearing a skin tight black dress with an open back that was just a few inches shorter than Saki’s red skirt. 

No wonder she had caught Genma’s attention so fast; she was a picture of feminine sexuality and confidence. She was exactly Genma’s type. 

“We have some room at our table if you two ladies would like to join us,” Kakashi offered.

“We?” Sakura inquired.  _ He isn’t here with another woman is he? Kami, I hope not. Shit! Maybe I am being clingy if I’m worried about stuff like that after just one night.  _

“Yeah, I’m actually here with a friend tonight; we have a table right over there.”

“Perfect, let’s go!” Ino said as she began walking towards the table.

“I guess that’s a yes,” Kakashi said, giving Sakura a pleased look. He was a little more pleased than he ought to have been that Saki had hoped to see him again as well. Plus, her having a friend along to hang out with Genma was perfect. Kakashi had a feeling that it was going to be a good night.

“Well, if she’s okay with it, so am I,” Sakura replied as she followed after Ino to the table.

When they arrived at the table, Kakashi quickly made introductions around the table. Sakura inwardly let out a sigh of relief when she realized Sukea’s friend was another man and not a woman.

“Niko, this my friend Genma. Genma, this is Niko. She is Saki’s friend.”

“Pleased to meet you, Niko. Why don’t you take the seat next to me and give those two some room, huh?” Genma asked, giving an appreciative tilt of his head to Niko and gesturing to the seat beside him.

Ino wasted no time before sliding into the seat next to genma, “Gladly.”

Saki and Sukea both gave each other a knowing look; their friends were going to get along just fine it seemed.

Kakashi slid into the booth after letting Saki in first. As soon as he took his seat, Saki scooted in close enough that he could feel her smooth creamy thigh on his. He took this as a cue and wrapped one arm around her shoulders and she leaned in even closer to him.

  
_ Oh yes a very good night indeed _ .


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who is following my story and much appreciation to everyone who has left me a review.
> 
> I want to give thanks to my beta for this story CherryBerry12, she does an amazing job!
> 
> As always read and review please, I hope you all enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

As Sakura looked around The Rusty Shuriken, she noticed that it had gotten much more lively over the past couple of hours. There was a small group in the back of the bar playing pool, another group in a corner to the left of the bar, and people on the dance floor dancing to the beat of the loud music.

There was an attractive woman making her way around the establishment, laughing and talking with everyone there. She must have been a regular visitor of The Rusty Shuriken because she seemed to know everyone. The only group she had not made her way around to socialize with was their own.

The four of them were still in their little booth against the wall. Niko was now practically sitting in Genma's lap and Saki was still tightly tucked up next to Sukea. There were several empty glasses on the table and a half eaten basket of fries.

The small group had been laughing, joking and talking about anything and everything going on in the village recently. Genma talked about the mission he had just returned from, apparently one where Kakashi had been his partner. Sakura figured that was probably why she had seen Kakashi around the bar earlier. She assumed that he had been making his way to leave when she had seen him, because he had only passed by her once and she had not seen him since.

Taking a hint from the glare Kakashi was giving him, Genma decided to change the topic of conversation "So," he drawled out as he looked between the two women, "you ladies never told us what brought you out tonight."

Ino perked up instantly at the chance to talk. "Well, you see, Saki here had a horrible week at the hospital and then ran into her ex earlier. So, I really had no choice but to bring her out. I mean, what kind of best friend would I be if I let her sit at home and mope?"

Kakashi was relieved that Genma had finally gotten the hint to stop talking about the mission that they had both just returned from. The whole topic of 'Kakashi' was making him a little uneasy. Now, though, the topic had been moved to something he was more comfortable with, not to mention much more interested in—Saki. "So, you work at the hospital?"

 _Shit, good going Ino Pig! You and your big mouth._ Sakura groaned to herself. "Uhh, I uhh. Yeah!" she stuttered, _Well that was pathetic, Sakura_.

"What do you do there?" Sukea asked, giving her his full attention.

"I'm a nurse," she answered. It wasn't far from the truth; if anything she was downgrading her abilities.

"Really, so you trained as a medical nin then?"

 _Was he honestly just that interested in learning about her boring life? "_ Yes, I learned medical nin-jutsu for the war. But I lost my entire team over the course of the war and after it was over I requested to be moved to the hospital permanently," Sakura answered honestly. Just because her teammates weren't all dead didn't mean she had not lost them all during the war.

Was she being serious? Kakashi Hatake was usually a pretty good judge of character and he couldn't see Saki just making up something like that so casually. He searched her face for any sign of dishonesty but found none. "I'm sorry to hear that. I know what it's like to lose a comrade." The words slipped out before he could stop himself. He knew the kind of pain she was talking about. It would seem they had more in common than he originally thought.

"You lost comrades before? I thought you were a photographer?" She couldn't stop her curiosity. She had always had a big heart.

"I was a shinobi before this. I was granted permission to leave after I lost my entire team." The tone in his voice and the look on his face told everyone at the table that he had shared more than he usually would like to.

Genma, knowing full well of what had happened to both of Kakashi's former teams, knew this was a topic they had to get off of quickly. "Hey, have you ladies ever played pool before?" He asked, once again drawing attention to himself. "If not, we can teach you. How about it, eh?"

Sakura and Ino exchanged a quick look before stating, "Sounds like fun."

"Alright, let's go," Kakashi said as he pushed up from the table and offered a hand to Saki. As she took his hand and stood up to her full height, she stopped when Sukea leaned in close to her ear to whisper, "You look great tonight by the way," before leaning back to watch the pretty pink blush spread across her face.

"Thank you," she replied shyly.

"Hey, are you two coming or what?" Genma yelled from the pool table he and Niko were now standing beside. "Do you guy's want to play teams, couple against couple?" he asked with a wink as Saki and Sukea approached the table.

"Oh, that would be great," Sakura said immediately. Neither she nor Ino had any idea how to play pool and if they were to be on a team against the guys they would surely lose.

Realizing that she had not really given Sukea a chance to voice his opinion, she chanced a look at him before adding, "If that's alright with you, Sukea"

He gave a small shrug of his shoulders, "Fine by me. I prefer it, actually. I was hoping for the chance for us to talk some more."

Genma couldn't help his ears from perking up at that statement. _Really? Kakashi was never one to show interest in other people like that._ He usually tried his best not to get too involved with other people's personal lives and would take a kunai to the knee cap before sharing anything about himself.

Genma had seen Kakashi woo women into his bed before; they had both been friends and bachelors for a long time. But this, this was something different. Kakashi wasn't just trying to get this woman in bed—he was genuinely interested in knowing her.

For whatever reason, this young woman had the Great Copy Nin's undivided attention and Genma had a feeling that it was a good thing. _Huh, who would have thought?_

"Alright, the rules are simple. All you do is use the pool cue to hit the white ball into one of the striped or solid balls to try and get it into a pocket. Since we are playing partners, every other shot is your teammates turn. Got it?" Genma asked while applying a little bit of blue chalk to the tip of his cue.

Both young women nodded to show they understood the rules. Sakura then turned around to look at the selection of pool cues on the wall. She had no idea what kind of strategy went along with the game of pool, so she wasn't sure what the difference was between all the wooden sticks before her.

"You probably want to go with a lighter weight," came a low deep voice from behind her. "Usually men go with heavier weight because they tend to have more force to put behind it. Women usually go with the lighter ones for the opposite reason," Sukea explained as he reached around her to select a pool stick and hand it to her.

"Thank you," Sakura said as she took the pool cue from his hand with a little uncertainty, her fingers grazing over his as she did so.

After a coin toss to decide who would go first, Kakashi racked the balls and Genma lined up for the break. A loud crack sounded through the room when the white ball made an impact with the triangle of colored balls.

"Alright, he didn't make a ball in on the break, so now it's our turn. Why don't you go first?" Sukea said, leaning over her shoulder.

"Why me first?" Sakura squeaked.

Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, Kakashi explained the strategy, "Because usually you have the strongest player follow up in a game of pool."

"Oh."

"Do you want me to show you the proper stance?" he offered.

She nodded, and he approached her from behind. Placing one hand on her hip and one on her opposite shoulder, he guided her into position when she was leaning over the table. He pulled her back into him and leaned over her, pressing his chest to her back. Grabbing each hand with his own he adjusted her grip and hand placement on the stick just right.

"Now line up your shot. Aim the white ball at the ball that you want to go into the pocket. You just need to hit the right angle to make it into the pocket. It sounds harder than it is."

"Right." Yeah, this wasn't hard. She was a ninja; she threw weapons in training and in battle. She was good at angles and distance. She could do this, no problem.

Seeing Saki's face become more confident, Kakashi released her and slowly backed away to give her space. She took aim and made the first shot, getting so excited that she did a brief happy dance before realizing that Genma and Sukea were watching her.

She blushed deeply and straightened herself. A small chuckle escaped Kakashi's lips. He had to admit she was rather adorable when she got excited, and he loved that shade of blush on her cheeks. "You made the ball so you get to go again," he reminded her.

She lined up and took her next shot. She missed that time, but she didn't let it get her down. Now it was Ino's turn.

"A medic at the hospital, huh?" Sukea ashed as she came to sit next to him.

"Haha, yeah."

"Do you like it?"

"I do. I love it, actually. After seeing so much death and people I couldn't help in the war, it's nice to do some good on a daily basis. It's a very rewarding job." Kakashi could see all over her face that she meant every word.

"Hey, Sukea you're up," Genma yelled out.

Kakashi took his shot then returned to the seat next to Sakura. "So, how did you end up doing photography after you left the Shinobi Forces?" she asked.

"Ah, well I really just kind of fell into it. It started as a hobby, just something peaceful that I could turn to when I needed. Turns out that I was pretty good at it and next thing I knew, it was just what I was doing with my life." He shrugged.

Sakura could understand wanting to find something calming and peaceful to do with her time, especially after the war. Shaking the negative thoughts from her mind she realized that it was her turn again. The four of them carried on like that for a couple of games before being interrupted.

Sakura had just finished her turn at the table when she turned around to see the social butterfly of a woman she had seen earlier standing by Sukea. _Maybe they know each other,_ Sakura thought to herself. Then the woman was leaning in, laying her hand on Sukea's thigh as her long silky black hair brushed against him. _Well, if they did know each other it was on a very personal level._

Kakashi had been admiring the smooth creamy skin of Saki's legs when long black hair and brown eyes blocked his view. He had noticed the woman earlier making her way socially around the bar, but he hadn't personally met her before. She clearly intended to change that.

"What's a handsome man like you doing sitting all alone?" She practically purred the words. "My name is Yumi, what's yours?" the woman asked as she slid her slender hand onto his thigh.

"I'm not alone actually; I'm here with friends." Kakashi stated simply, intentionally avoiding giving the woman his name. He was trying not to be rude but wanted to be clear that he wasn't interested in her company. The only woman he wanted to give his attention to that night was Saki.

Judging by the look on the woman's face and her next words, Kakashi was going to have to be a little more stern. As she leaned in closer she gave his thigh a light squeeze, "What do you have hiding under there, hmm?" she giggled at him.

"Nothing exciting," he replied dryly.

"Oh, I can be the judge of that."

"Not interested, and I don't think my date would appreciate that," he told her as he stood up from his seat and made his way to Saki's side. She had been watching from a few feet away and was clearly unsure of what to do. He wrapped his arm around her waist and gave the other woman a pointed look.

"In fact, I do believe I owe my date here a dance," he said, looking down at Saki as if to ask her. She nodded her head in reply. With that, he took her by the hand and led her out onto the dance floor leaving 'Yumi' to gawk at the fact that she had just been turned down.

When they reached the dance floor, Sukea spun her around in a small circle in place before pulling her into him. Sakura looked up at him as they started to sway with the music. "Your date, huh?" she asked with a questioning smile, clearly not sure what to make of his statement. He gave a short nod.

It wasn't a slow song, but it wasn't a fast one either; its tempo was a moderate pace that was meant for two people to dance together in a lively fashion. Sakura had her arms around his neck and Kakashi had his hands firmly on her hips as they swayed and rolled their hips in unison.

Sakura turned in his arms, now pressing her back to his front while still moving to the beat of the music. She slid one hand up over her head and laced her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer. Kakashi followed her lead and moved one hand from her hip around to her front and pulled her flush against him, the action causing her hips to nestle tightly against his.

A thin sheen of sweat had started to gather on their skin as they moved and grinded against each other. Sakura could feel his hard muscles flexing against her as they moved, reminding her of how those muscles had felt last time they were together. It was a bigger turn on than she had thought it would be.

Kakashi's hands were everywhere, running over any part of her body he could reach. He couldn't get enough of the feel of her porcelain skin. He wanted her again, tonight… Just as he had wanted her all week long, ever since their first encounter.

When he leaned down and buried his face in the crook of her neck he smelt it, a hint of her arousal. Kakashi had to swallow the groan that threatened to escape him, obviously she wanted him again tonight as well. He would be all too happy to oblige to her every desire.

Sukea had dipped his head down to her shoulder and Sakura could feel his lips and heavy puffs of breath on her neck. It was sending a pleasant shiver down her spine and she wanted more, she wanted him closer, wanted his hands and his lips in more places.

She turned in his arms once again to come face to face with him. She looked up at him with blue lust-filled eyes to meet his own dark gaze. She wasn't sure how to say what she wanted. It seemed he was going to beat her to it when he leaned forward to whisper in her ear, but before the first word left his lips Genma was calling out to them.

"Hey, they are closing up. Niko and I are going to head back to my place. Are you two coming?" he asked, already knowing the answer just by looking at them. They took one quick glance at each other and the four of them were gone a minute later.

* * *

It was only about ten minutes until the two couples arrived at Genma's apartment. Once there, Genma brought out a bottle of sake, four small cups, and a deck of cards. They sat around his kotatsu as he handed out the cards and explained the rules of strip poker.

Thirty minutes later, Genma and Niko had disappeared into his bedroom while Sukea and Saki were slamming the door to the guest room. Kakashi had every intention of putting Make Out Paradise to shame that night. The two wasted no time ridding each other of the couple of pieces of clothing they had left.

Kakashi quickly slipped out of his boxers as they were the only item of clothing he still had, having lost his shirt and pants during the game.

Sakura was left with only her bra and skirt. She had lost her shirt first, then when she had been faced with removing another article of clothing she took a chance by removing her panties instead of her skirt in an attempt to stay mostly clothed in front of Genma.

Once their clothes were on the floor, he immediately had her back against the bedroom wall. Dropping to his knees, then draping one of her legs over his shoulder, he dove his mouth into her willing heat and had her pulling at his hair almost painfully as he made her climax over and over.

When her legs started to shake so badly she couldn't hold herself up anymore, he took hold of her other leg and placed it over his other shoulder, now supporting all of her weight with his strong back. He continued on with his talented tongue until she was literally begging for him to be inside her, and only then did he oblige her.

He carried her to the bed, laying her out on her back. Bracing himself on one forearm, he began pumping into her. Running his other hand up and down her sides, while kissing, nipping, licking and sucking everywhere on her body that he could reach.

Sitting up on his knees and wanting a different angle and a better view of Saki, he then took the underside of her legs in his hands so he could spread her wide for him to see as much of her as possible in all her naked glory. That was how Kakashi came for the time that night, with Sakura clinging to the sheets desperately.

After a short rest, he took her from behind, both on their knees and Saki bracing her hands on the headboard. Sukea had one hand gripping her hip tightly and the other was wrapped in her hair, pulling her head back slightly. She could hear every grunt and groan he made behind her. Then the deep moan that he let out signaling his release.

He took her one last time on the dresser, standing between her wide spread legs as she sat on the top of it. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and her legs were wrapped around his hips, he had one hand in her hair and the other between them as he made circles over her bundle of nerves with his thumb.

It took everything Sakura had to keep her than once the sensation she felt was so intense that she was afraid of losing her henge. She could actually feel it slipping a couple of times and had to quickly rein in her chakra.

She had no idea that anything could make her feel this good. Sukea was simply amazing; he knew how to get her body started and paid attention to the things that sent her over the edge. He was not only a very skilled lover but also a very considerate one.

Sukea wasn't just considerate in bed. either. He had demonstrated several times that night that he was a good man as well. He could have ditched her for that woman at the bar but he didn't. He chose to stay with her. They had such an amazing time tonight, with everything.

He was polite and courteous. He was fun and playful. He always asked her opinion when they changed activities. He listened to her and held intelligent conversation throughout the night. If he was ever bored, he didn't show it.

A part of her was really starting to think that they could be something more. Thinking about all the events of the night, she giggled out loud when she realized that this was the best date she had ever had, and it wasn't even a real date.

He had to see her again, and not just because of the sex. Which was fantastic to be honest, but the main reason was just her. Saki was an entirely different kind of woman from any other he had known. She was intelligent, fun, outgoing, and feisty.

Then she was erupting into a fit of giggles next to him. "What's so funny?" he asked, raising one eyebrow at her.

"I was just thinking," she said after a moment.

"About?" Surely she wasn't laughing at him.

"Well, the thing is… Tonight has been the most fun I have ever had with a guy. I really enjoyed it," she answered honestly.

 _Seriously? Had she really enjoyed their time together that much?_ "I would like to do it again sometime," he told her. "Properly from now on, though," he added after a moment.

 _Did he… Did he just ask her on a proper date?_ "Do you mean like a date?" she asked.

"Yes, if you want to of course." This was new territory for Kakashi Hatake; he had never actually asked a woman out on a date before. Sex, yes—plenty of times. A date, though—a date was something new.

"I'm not sure, Sukea."

She was holding back for some reason. He knew she wanted this too but something was holding her back. He didn't want to pry or push her into something, if she had a reason then she had a reason.

"I should get going, the sun is coming up." She got up from the bed and quickly got dressed.

Not wanting to leave the question unanswered, he decided to get in one last word before she left. "Saki—Friday night, 6:00 at the Kintai Bridge. I'll be there. If you show up, we have an official date. If not, then I won't hold it against you."

Sparkling green eyes stared back at him, "I'll think about it."

He gave a slight nod to show he understood and the next moment she was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much everyone for the kudos, follows and comments. Knowing how much you all enjoy this story encourages me to keep writing, you guys are amazing. Special thanks to my beta CherryBerry12. As always please read and review, thanks and enjoy.

Monday morning, Sakura was up bright and early for her shift at the hospital. After leaving Sukea at Genma’s apartment Saturday night, she hadn’t returned home until about 6:00 am. After showering and changing into her comfortable clothes, she dove into bed and quickly fell asleep. 

She had woken later that afternoon and went about her normal Sunday chores, laundry, cleaning and weekly shopping. After finishing her meal preps for the week and putting away her clean clothes, she relaxed in a hot bath for a while before going to bed for the night. It would definitely help with her soreness.

She arrived early for her shift at the hospital, which Tsunade was relieved to see. Two ANBU members had just been brought in, and Tsunade was dealing with one while Shizune was struggling to keep the other alive. 

Sakura had been told that the man Tsunade was working had taken a heavy blow to the face with a blunt weapon. He had multiple skull fractures and several chunks of skull lodged in his brain with severe brain damage. He had also taken several blows to the body with the same weapon.

Despite its complexity, Tsunade could handle the operation on her own with the help of some support nurses. However, the man Shizune was working on was the one that needed Sakura's help. When she entered the room and stepped up to the operating table, she had to hold back a gasp—the man couldn’t have been much older than Sakura herself. Yet here he was, dying right in front of her if she didn’t snap out of it and do something.

He had a large open wound in his chest and several lacerations all over his torso. Once Sakura got started with the healing process, she realized that he was still bleeding out. Her medical training told her that it must mean he had internal bleeding, some wound inside the body that was causing mass blood loss.

Doing a full body scan on the man, Sakura found that he had additional damage to his kidney, spleen, and lungs. He would need a lot of work to save his life, but Sakura was prepared to give him her all. She took a steady breath and focused her chakra, then began to use it to mend his internal injuries before moving to the external ones.

Having Sakura show up at that moment had provided Shizune with the extra help that Tsunade was too busy to give her. Ultimately both men made it through surgery. Both were still badly injured and would need weeks in the hospital and several more healing sessions before being able to leave, but they were no longer in critical conditions.

Sakura was now sitting at her small desk filling out the paperwork for her patient. He had lived and it was thanks to her; times like these were why she loved her job as a medic so much.

She always felt a sense of pride and accomplishment after a major surgery that was successful. She always held her head a little higher, her shoulders a little straighter, and kept a small smile on her face. How could she not? He would live and it was because she refused to give up on him. 

It was her greatest strength and her greatest weakness—Sakura could never bring herself to give up on anyone, no matter how hopeless things seemed. 

Her thoughts about the ANBU member had led her mind to wonder about her former sensei. She wondered how his mission had gone, how things had been for him lately. She wondered what all in his life had changed since the last time they had seen each other, if he had any interesting stories to tell, if he had been getting letters from Naruto as well.

When was he going to come by to catch up with her? He had told her before he left that he would. She knew he was home; she had seen him at the bar and Genma had confirmed it. Not like she could admit any of that, but still—she knew.

She briefly wondered why Kakashi was always so closed off from everyone. He never talked about his past or his private life. He never showed up to events, birthdays, celebrations, or any of the other events she knew he would have been invited to. He was almost always alone.

She hardly ever saw him out with people. When she did, it was always the same two or three and he never stayed long, just like last night. She just couldn't seem to understand why anyone would want to be alone so much, why he never wanted to create memories or share things with other people. Even when Sakura was here practically begging for his friendship.

How could opening up and letting people in be so easy for people like Sukea but be so difficult for Kakashi? Sukea was warm and inviting; he talked about himself, not in detail but more than Kakashi ever had, and she hadn’t had to beg him to do it. He asked about her and her life—things Kakashi had never done even though he’d known her for years.

Finishing the file and standing up to put it in the cabinet, she winced slightly at her aching body. She had been a little sore yesterday, but she had been sore after training and missions too, so she had pushed through it thinking a hot bath and night of sleep would cure it all.

Apparently, she had been wrong. If anything she was even more sore today than she had been yesterday. Her chakra could close wounds and mend bones, but it did little for things like the common cold and sore muscles. She could help the muscles relax with her chakra but couldn’t completely eliminate it.

Noticing the odd look she was getting from Shizune, Sakura did her best to mask her grimace as she walked over to the file cabinet. Too late, Shizune had seen it.

“Sakura, are you alright?” Shizune asked her.

“I’m fine Shizune; it’s nothing really,” she insisted

“Are you sure? If there is something wrong, I can take a look at it for you.”

“No, no, no, that’s alright. Really, I’m just sore from a spar I had Saturday.” It wasn’t a  _ complete  _ lie. She just really did not want to have to explain her new hobby to Shizune.

Shizune raised a single eyebrow and replied, “Hmm, it must have been some spar.”

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Across the village, Kakashi flipped another unread page of Make Out Paradise as he lay on his back on the soft grass. Though reading Make Out Paradise was Kakashi’s favorite pastime, today he was simply going through the motions. Rather than actually reading any of the well-known passages, he was staring at the pages imagining a different story. 

He had tried actually to read his book earlier, but every time he got to a part about the Heroine instead of silky black hair and brown eyes like in the book, in his mind it would be vibrant red hair and big blue eyes. Once again, he couldn't seem to get Saki off his mind. 

After leaving Genma’s house shortly after Saki had, Kakashi had gone home to sleep in his own bed. Not waking up until about 5:00pm, he had gotten out of bed long enough to eat something and went right back to sleep until his alarm had woken him up this morning. He’d slept most of the day away, dreaming of Saki over and over.

The night before had been amazing with Saki; she was fun and outgoing without being loud and overbearing. She was so very different from the women he usually met at the Rusty Shuriken he seemed to be growing more fond of her every time he saw her. Perhaps that's why he had asked to see her again officially. Kakashi had never even had a real girlfriend or an actual date before.

Not that he couldn’t: he had his pick of women in this village and others. He also was no rookie when it came to sex either. He just had never wanted a ‘relationship.’ He didn’t want the commitment to someone else; he didn’t want someone in his personal life, in his feelings, in his head, and certainly not in his past. 

He didn’t particularly want Saki in those places either but he did want to see her again. He wanted to spend more time with her and get to know her more; they definitely had a spark. He thought back to early that morning when he had asked her to meet him Friday night. He was more hopeful than he should be that she would show up.

She seemed torn, like she wanted to say yes but something was holding her back. Maybe she had someone at home? No, she didn’t seem like THAT kind of woman. She seemed more… shy? Afraid, maybe? Something about those big green eyes looking back at him with uncertainty told him he was missing something about this situation.

_ Wait? Green eyes?  _ He thought to himself,  _ How can I remember every detail I see in this woman but can’t remember what color her eyes are? Since when do I have such a lack of attention to detail?  _

His mental lashing was interrupted by a skittish looking Chunin boy who was standing about four feet from him just staring. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the boy then asked, “Yes?”

The Chunin took in a breath and then blurted out, “Hogake-Samasaidgetyourasstoherofficenowfor missionquestions.”

Kakashi gave the boy an odd look. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Please, Kakashi-Sama, I’m just doing as I was told.”

“I understand that. What I don’t understand, however, is the message you are trying to give me. Try it again but slowly this time, hmm?”

The Chunin nodded, then took a deep breath, “Hokage-Sama said get your ass to her office now for mission questions.”

“Ah, I see. Why was that so hard to say the first time?” 

“Umm, well, Kakashi-Sama. You looked a little… upset when I found you. You seemed to be thinking very hard about something and you were muttering to yourself. I just didn’t want to upset you any further.”

Kakashi stood there in shock for a brief moment. It wasn’t everyday that someone caught him in an embarrassing moment, especially not someone who looked up to him. Thankfully, the boy was more afraid of the situation than amused. At least his reputation wouldn’t be taking a hit from this encounter. 

“I see. Well, thank you!” Kakashi said before turning on his heel towards the Hokage Tower.

* * *

  
  
  
Sakura was sitting in the Yamanaka Flower shop with Ino eating some sandwiches that Ino’s mom had made for them. She was on her lunch break for her shift at the hospital and had decided to come talk to Ino about Sukea’s little request the night before.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” Ino inquired.

“What makes you think I need to talk to you about something, Pig?” Sakura shot back, a little too defensive to be innocent. 

Rolling her eyes Ino answered, “Because, Forehead, you wouldn’t come all this way on your one-hour lunch break for no reason. I’m guessing that it has something to do with Sukea; why else would you need to talk to me so badly that you couldn’t wait until you got off work?”

Sakura had to admit, Ino had a point. Not to mention she was absolutely right.  _ Damn she knows me too well.  _ “Okay, yeah!”

“I knew it. Now tell me!” Ino exclaimed.

“He asked me out.”

“Out?” Ino didn’t entirely understand. 

“Yes, out. Like a designated day, time, and place to see each other again,” Sakura elaborated. 

“OH MY GOD, SAKURA. He asked you out on an actual date?” Ino squealed. 

Sakura nodded.

“Where, when, and what do you wear? Details, woman.”

“Friday night at the Kintai Bridge.” Sakura answered, a little weary. She still hadn’t decided if she was going to go or not yet.

“Well, you ARE going to go right?” Ino asked.

“To be honest, I’m really not sure, Ino.” She wanted to. She had really enjoyed spending time with Sukea and knew that it would be enjoyable to do it again. Especially if they had the time to plan things out ahead of time.

“What? Seriously, Sakura?” Ino pointed a single finger at her friend. “You’re going.”

“What? You can’t make that decision for me Ino.” Sakura objected.

“Watch me! You go, or I’ll go as you! Either way Someone is showing up at that bridge Friday night.” 

Sakura couldn’t believe Ino was actually blackmailing her into accepting a date with Sukea. Okay, well she could believe Ino would do something like that, but only if Ino honestly believed that it was for the best. Which begged the question, “Why do you feel so strongly about it?”

“Because guys don’t take you out to buy you things and impress you if they have already had you, Sakura. Not unless they are interested in more than just what you bring to the bedroom. Honestly, I have never had a guy ask to take me out after.”

“Really?” Sakura asked.

“Really. I’ve had dates, of course. But never a guy out of a bar that met me and wanted anything more than just to get in my pants.” It was true. She had guys who knew her from the flower shop and around the village who asked her on dates, plenty of them. But she had never had a guy show interest in her after they had gotten her in bed.

Sakura took a moment to let Ino’s words sink in. This wasn’t what she had been expecting when she had taken Ino’s advice a little over a week ago, but she couldn’t deny that she was starting to really like Sukea and wanted to see him more. “Alright, I guess I’ll go. It’s not anything serious anyways, we’re just having fun, right?”

“Right!”

“I have to get going or I’ll be late getting back to work, I’ll see you later Ino,” Sakura told her as she grabbed her bag and headed out the door. 

Sakura made her way through the streets of Konoha, slowing down to walk as the hospital came into view. As she approached the building, a familiar head of silver hair emerged from the building beside it, the Hokage Tower. 

Kakashi had just finished his meeting with Tsunade and was now heading back out into the village. Apparently Lady Tsunade had a few things that she wanted to discuss with him about his mission report, mainly about the men who had attacked them. According to Tsunade, those men had nothing to gain from the contents of that scroll.

The scroll was nothing more than medical information. It was important in its own way but not anything that would be considered detrimental or sensitiv, especially to outlaws like that. After spending the last two hours going over important details, he was now finally free again.

As he was exiting the building, he caught a glimpse of pink hair in his peripheral. Sakura. As they drew closer, he avoided eye contact and casually pulled out Make Out Paradise and situated it right in front of his face. 

He knew she wouldn’t want to sit and chat with him, not after everything that happened. Not after everything that he had put her through. At least, that’s what he had convinced himself. Why would she want anything to do with him after what had happened to Sasuke?

Truthfully, Kakashi couldn’t bear to be around her after what he had let happen to Sasuke. He could understand why she was angry at him, why she would never want to be close to him. He was responsible for allowing the person she loved to go astray, only to have to watch her best friend kill him in order to stop him.

Kakashi had seen Sasuke going down the wrong path and he had tried his best to keep him out of the dark. It hadn’t worked; Kakashi had failed him too. Sasuke had plunged into the dark powers of Orochimaru, completely giving in to it.

When that final battle had come and Naruto had to fight Sasuke, there was nothing left of the Uchiha boy. He was all coldness, pain, and darkness. Sakura had wanted to believe that the old Sasuke was still in there somewhere and had thrown herself into the battle in hopes of stopping them.

That hadn’t worked. Sasuke wasn’t going to stop his attack just to protect Sakura, and Naruto couldn’t pull back his attack without ensuring that Sakura would take it head on. Kakashi, weak and out of chakra, knew that he wouldn’t be able to get to stop the two young men on his own anymore. 

But he could stop Sakura before they collided with her. He could save her. If no one else, he could save Sakura. With everything he still had left in him ,he had gone afterSakura at full speed, tackling her to the ground and covering her body with his own just in time. 

If he would have gotten to her a moment later, she would have been dead.

But it turned out that saving her life had also placed a terrible burden on her. That was something Kakashi knew well. He had to watch the love of her life die in her arms. She had applied a healing hand to Naruto and Sasuke, but by the time Sakura had finished Naruto was alive and Sasuke was not. 

Kakashi assumed that his injuries were too severe for him to be saved. 

Naruto left the village shortly after the war. Sakura had to hold the man she loved while he died, and then had to watch the man who had become her brother leave because of his grief. It was all Kakashi’s fault; his failures and his shortcomings were the cause of her pain. 

All of it.

He deserved the resentment that he saw in her eyes as he walked past her. He never fully looked at her, but he could see the look she gave him as he passed. Her look of hurt, all from his mistakes.

As Sakura approached Kakashi, she noticed he had pulled his book out and began reading as he walked. She had hoped that crossing paths with him would remind him that he had promised to catch up with her when he returned from his mission. 

It wasn’t looking too likely, she realized when he walked right past her. He was just a few inches away and yet there was no wave, no smile, no greeting, and not even the slightest look in her direction.

_ Still invisible to you, huh, Kakashi Sensei _ , she thought as she watched him continue on.  _ Either that or you really just hate me so much that you don’t even want to acknowledge my existence. _

She watched him until he disappeared around the corner, then sighed heavily she pushed through the doors of the hospital and headed back to work.

Kakashi rounded the corner and was quickly out of sight. Maybe he should take some extended mission to somewhere else. Missions were easy, but dealing with Sakura was not. He had ignored her for the nine months that he was her sensei, favoring Naruto and Sasuke. 

It wasn’t that he was intentionally trying to shrug her off; it was that she still had family, she still had a support system, and she didn’t need him like Naruto and Sasuke did. Besides, she was a young girl and her fighting style had been very different from his own. At the time, he really had no clue how to handle her or what to do with her.

_ Hell, I still don’t know now!  _ Kakashi thought to himself. That extended mission in another country was looking pretty tempting right about now; he needed to stop running into Sakura so much lately. _ Ah, but then I would miss my date with Saki, _ he reminded himself. Well, he couldn’t have that.

Maybe in the morning he would go to the Missions Administration Building and see if there were any short missions available for him to take. Something that would take just a day or two, as long as he was back in the village by Thursday. That didn’t seem like too bad of an idea.

But then it would take away time for him to think about what he would be taking Saki to go do for their date. Hmm, now that was something to occupy his thoughts.Dating was a new thing to him, so he wasn’t entirely up to speed on how these things were supposed to go.

Good thing he had a best friend who went on more dates than anyone else he knew. If anyone could help him understand the ins and outs of traditional dating, then it was going to be him. Kakashi’s mind made up, he took a left at the next street and headed to the Jonin Headquarters to track down Genma. 

* * *

  
  
  


After Kakashi made it to the Jonin Headquarters, he promptly found Genma in the lounge area and pulled him aside to a more discreet place for their conversation. They were now sitting in one of the private rooms that lined the main hallway of the building. 

Genma stared at Kakashi for a moment, surely he had misunderstood what Kakashi had just said, “Hold on, you did what?”

Sighing as if it were the worst thing ever to have to repeat himself, Kakashi said, “I asked her out on a proper date. What’s the big deal?” Kakashi knew full well why it was such a shock, but he wasn’t going to let Genma make this into an even more uncomfortable situation. 

“The big deal is that Kakashi Hatake does not _ date _ ! Yet here you are telling me that you have a date with a woman you have already taken to bed too. It’s news, that’s for sure.”

“No, it’s private and it better stay that way,” Kakashi warned.

“Alright, alright, have it your way. So, if it’s so private then why did you track me down to tell me about it?” Genma asked.

Great there it is, the question. This had to be one of the most embarrassing things he had ever had to ask someone. “I need you to explain how these things usually go.”

“Huh, didn’t see that coming.”

Kakashi glared.

“Well, there isn’t really a standard procedure for dating anymore. Except for the common courtesy rules.”

“Which are…”

“You know, things like dress to impress, show up on time, pay the bill, hold the door open for her. Things like that; basically, just be a gentleman.” 

Kakashi listened to Genma’s list and felt a little bit of relief. He didn’t typically do such things for other people, usually making a point to keep to himself. But all in all they weren’t difficult things to do.

“So, what do you usually do on a date?” 

“Like I said, there isn’t really a standard guideline anymore. Almost anything fun can be considered a date nowadays. How creative I am depends on the girl. Sometimes we just go to dinner, sometimes we go to a play, sometimes we see a movie, and sometimes we just go to the bar to have a few drinks and play pool. It mostly depends on the girl.”

That made sense. Every woman was different so the things they enjoyed doing could vary greatly; if you wanted your date to enjoy your time together then you would need to inquire about her likes and dislikes. Kakashi was now kicking himself for not asking Saki more about her hobbies. He would have to remember to do so next time he was with her.

“What do you suggest? What kind of girl do you think Saki is?” Kakashi asked.

“Look man, don’t stress it, okay? Just show up on time, tell her she looks nice, and take her out for a nice dinner. You can please most women with that one and it’s simple.” Genma was trying to give Kakashi ideas that were easy to follow through with. The man was a genius when it came to being a ninja but as a ‘normal’ man, not so much.

“Saki seems like a really nice girl; she would probably appreciate something simple but would also be mind blown by a little extra effort. That’s the feeling I got, anyways. Just try to keep it simple to start with.”

“Right.” Simple. He could do that. He liked doing that, he liked when things were simple. He could do this. 

Just show up on time, so set an alarm. Telling her she looked nice—shouldn’t be hard as she has looked nice every time he has seen her so far. Wear something casual yet stylish; he had a good pair of dark jeans and a grey button down in the back of his closet that would do. Take her to dinner, somewhere not too casual but not too upscale. Keep it simple, got it.

Now all he had to do is find the right restaurant to take her to.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took me longer than usual, it's been a long week lol. But it's here now yay!
> 
> Thank you so much everyone for all your support, your comments and opinions are so very much appreciated. Pleas continue to leave reviews, you guys are amazing.
> 
> Special thanks to my beta for this story CherryBerry12.
> 
> I hope everyone likes the new chapter.

The week had gone by quicker than usual for Sakura. She wasn’t sure if it was excitement or nervousness that had made Friday come so quickly. Either way, here she was, leaving work on a Friday at 4:00. Even then, she could only convince Tsunade to let her leave so early by promising to take home some research to work on over the weekend.

She still had two hours until she was supposed to be at the Kintai Bridge to meet Sukea for their date. Sakura had changed her mind about going several times over the past few days. Ino’s words from their lunch on Monday had been running through Sakura’s mind all week long. 

She couldn’t deny that Ino had a few valid points.

A guy doesn’t decide to take you out after he has already gotten what he wanted unless at some point he decided that you were worth more than what he had originally came for. Guys also wouldn’t turn down other women who were clearly interested in entertaining them for the evening if they weren’t more interested in you.

There was no denying that Ino’s lecture had helped to push Sakura into showing up for her date, but it hadn’t been the deciding factor. No—when it really came down to it, Sakura was going on a date with Sukea because she wanted to. She liked him, and he liked her. She enjoyed spending time hanging out with him, and she enjoyed talking with him. 

Sakura was known to never indulge in things. She never bought herself anything that wasn’t a necessity and she only went out to have fun when Ino dragged her out of the hospital. She didn’t do spa days or get her nails done; she never did anything just for herself anymore.

That’s why she decided that she would go out with Sukea. Sakura wanted to be selfish just this once. She wanted to do something for herself without worrying about anyone else just for one night. She wanted this. She deserved to have a little fun, right?

_ Right! Sukea and I are just having fun. It’s nothing serious. We are two grown people meeting up to have a good time. There’s no harm in going on a couple dates with a fun guy. As far as the sex goes, we are both consenting adults who are fulfilling each other’s needs. As long as it doesn’t become serious, there’s no harm done, right?!  _ Sakura reassured herself as she opened her front door. 

Looking at the clock to check the time, she realized she only had an hour to get ready before she needed to leave. She could do that. She quickly stripped out of her hospital uniform and got into the shower. As she lathered up her shampoo in her hair, she tried to plan her outfit for the evening. 

But as she thought about what she would wear, she realized she had a small problem. Sukea had never told her where they would be going or what they would be doing for their date. How was she supposed to know what to wear? “Great, like I’m not bad enough at picking out what to wear when I do know what I’ll be doing,” Sakura muttered to herself.

“Are you seriously in there talking down to yourself before your date, Sakura?” Ino called from the doorway. Sakura, who was in the middle of washing her hair, abruptly stopped at the sound of the familiar voice and scrunched her nose in mild confusion. 

“Ino, what the hell are you doing here?” She called back.

“Obviously I’m here to help you get ready Sakura! A little gratitude would be nice, ya know.”

“Oh. That’s good.” It really was a good thing Ino showed up to help. Even though Sakura knew it was probably just to make sure Sakura actually went on her date, Ino was there to help, and Sakura was grateful for it.

“Damn right that’s good! Now get out here so I can get started,” Ino shouted as she headed back into the bedroom.

When Sakura got back into her room, she found one of her dresses and a pair of leggings laid out neatly on her bed. The dress was one that Sakura had only worn once to an event in Rain Country. Sakura had always liked it—she just never had a good reason to wear it after the small get together that she had originally bought it for.

It was a fitted dress, not skin-tight but it didn’t flare either. It was dark green with sleeves that came just below the elbow. The leggings were all white and they were skin tight; Ino had even picked out a pair of knee high brown boots to go with it. 

After Sakura had dressed, she took a moment to look at herself in the mirror. 

It really was a rather cute outfit. Ino usually didn’t pick such casual and modest clothing, especially for a date. Before Sakura could dive any deeper into Ino’s reason for the sudden change, she was being pulled into a chair where Ino began styling her hair.

After Ino was finished with her hair, Sakura then stood before the full length mirror once again. Her hair was cascading down her back with thick curls. Ino had taken a small bit of hair from both sides just above the ear and pinned it at the back of her head, framing her face nicely.

She had a moment where she wished that she could stay like this for her date. With the perfect hair, the make-up, the outfit, and the guy, she wished for a moment that this was all happening to her as Sakura instead of Saki. These were the exact things she’d wanted since she had come to terms with her true feelings for Sasuke.

Shaking those thoughts away, she quickly performed the seals for the transformation jutsu. She watched in the mirror as her pink hair darkened to red, her green eyes shifted to blue, and she grew two inches taller.

Well, that was it. She was ready. Just in time too, she realized as she looked at the clock—she had twenty minutes until she had to be at the Kintai Bridge. It was about a fifteen minute walk from her house, maybe twenty with heels. “I guess I should get going then, huh?”

Ino nodded and gave Sakura a big smile that she’d saved just for her. She truly was her best friend. “Have fun, I’ll see you tomorrow for our weekly date, “ Ino said. “And you better not be stingy on the details this time, Forehead!” she shouted as Sakura made her way out the front door.

* * *

  
  
  


Kakashi stood at the Kintai Bridge under his Sukea henge waiting to see if Saki would show up. He had arrived fifteen minutes before their scheduled meeting time and it was just minutes away from 6:00. Oddly enough, he was nervous; he didn’t even get nervous during battle. _ So why the hell am I nervous now?  _ he chastised himself.  _ It’s only dinner. It’s nothing.  _

_ But it can’t just be nothing.  _ If it was nothing, he wouldn’t be so nervous, and he wouldn’t have bothered to actually show up on time.  _ Okay, it’s something, but nothing serious!  _

He checked his watch for the time once again—6:02.  _ Shit! _ Did she decide not to come? Maybe she was just running late, or got lost on the way there. Or maybe she didn’t actually want to come. Technically, she had never officially agreed; she had said that she would think about it.

“Sukea,” the soft feminine voice of Saki called from behind him. _ Or maybe she really was just running a couple of minutes late.  _

Kakashi turned around to come face to face with Saki. She looked nice; her outfit fit well with the time of year and would do just fine for what he had planned for them. As he looked at her in the light of the setting sun, he realized that this was the first time that he had seen her in natural lighting.

Every time he had seen her before had been at night and indoors, and she had been attractive even then. But looking at her now, he noticed that she was naturally very beautiful, the kind of beautiful he’d want to see lying next to him in bed wearing only his T-shirt with her hair messy and loose or draped over his arm in an elegant kimono. 

Or simple and lovely, just the way she was right now. 

Maybe he would still get the chance to see her in that elegant kimono or in his bed wearing his T-shirt—a voice in the back of his mind said he certainly hoped so.

“Am I late?” she asked timidly, silently hoping he wasn’t upset. He didn’t seem like the kind of man to get upset easily, but he hadn’t said a single word since she had arrived.

“Ehh, no. Not at all, right on time,” he reassured her. “You look great by the way. I really like that dress on you.”

“Oh, thank you! I have only worn this like one other time. It was for an event in another village a couple of years ago.”

“You should wear it more often. It suits you and the weather as well,” he said lightly but honestly.

She gave him a bright and beautiful smile before responding, “Well, I’m glad you like it. Maybe I will wear it more often just for you,” she half joked.

He gave a small chuckle before clearing his throat to ask, “Are you ready to go?”

She nodded before wrapping her arm around the one he had offered to her.

* * *

  
  
  


Kakashi watched Saki’s expression intently as she looked around the restaurant. He was trying to gauge her reaction to know if she liked it or not. This was his first official date, after all, and he wanted to do things right. 

The establishment was a small yet nice restaurant called Nabe. It was off the usual beaten path, so it wasn’t ever overcrowded, but it was a nice place. Not overly fancy, but definitely not a dive bar. It was something of a casual spot but with a classy edge. 

The walls were a deep red with velvet seating pillows to match. The table cloths were pure white with little white napkins. The waitstaff wore solid black kimonos with dark red obi. Genma had said that it was on the nicer side for a first date, but Kakashi wanted to make a good impression for their (and his) first date.

They didn’t have to wait long for the hostess to return to the lobby and show them to their table. When they arrived, Kakashi made sure to pull a chair out for Saki. Once she was seated, he took his seat across from her.

Another woman in a black kimono showed up immediately to set a hot pot of water and a small basket of assorted teas on the table for them. “Would you like a moment to decide or would you like to place your order now?” she asked politely.

“I can be ready now if you are, Saki. “ Sukea told her. “But if you need a few minutes to think about it, we can wait.”

Not wanting to cause the woman any extra trips and not wanting to make Sukea wait for her to choose something, she decided to just take a chance with whatever the server recommended. “No, it’s fine. I can decide now. What would you recommend?” Sakura asked the server. “It’s my first time here.” 

The woman smiled politely. “I think that all guests should try the assorted nigiri sushi. It’s a

platter of various kinds of sushi, each piece made by placing the ingredients on top of hand-pressed vinegared rice.” 

That really did sound good. “Alright, I’ll have that then. Thank you!”

“My pleasure. And for you, sir?” she asked, turning to face Sukea.

“That sounds great actually, I’ll have the same,” he told her.

After the woman left to give the kitchen their orders, a small silence fell over the table. Kakashi immediately began to try to think of a topic of conversations when Saki beat him to it.

“This place is really nice. I’ve never been here before.” 

“Yeah, it’s kind of a local secret spot,” he told her with a small chuckle.

“Really? Well, how did you come to find out about it? I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve never even heard of this place, much less actually been here,” Saki commented. 

It was true,=; she didn't even know that this place existed until twenty minutes ago. So how could Sukea, a man who usually only passes through Konoha every few months, manage to find it?

_ Shit!  _ He hadn’t thought that statement through before blurting it out. “Uhh, well, I know people around here. People who have lived her a long time and know these little spots.” 

Sakura looked at him for a moment—that did make sense. Over time and with his profession, of course he’d meet people here. He probably even had a few friends here.

“Who do you know here? Maybe we know some of the same people by chance,” she asked, honestly curious to know more about him.

“Well, Genma is one. You know that already though from last week, I suppose.”

“Mmhmm, how did you meet him anyways?”

“Ehh, I actually met him through another friend, Kakashi Hatake. Do you know him?” He knew it might be a little unethical to ask someone their opinion of you while you were in disguise, especially if you had a romantic interest in them. But Kakashi was very curious to hear Saki’s unfiltered thoughts about him. 

He justified his question by telling himself that if he were to continue seeing Saki, then it was important to know what she thought about the real him. If she hated him, then continuing on past tonight would be pointless, and if she found him interesting or attractive then that would only help him in his pursuit.

Sakura frowned. Kakashi Hatake? As in her former sensei and team leader Kakashi? Seriously, what were the odds of that happening? “I do know… Of him. I mean, everyone here does, right? He’s the Famous Copy Ninja after all,” she said, clearing her throat a bit.

“I see, so you have never met him personally, then?”

That was a tricky question now, wasn’t it? “I have, a while back. But he more or less ignored me back then, during the war. I cross paths with him every once in a while here in the village, but he doesn’t notice me any more now than he did then, so I usually try to leave him alone.”

She knew she couldn’t just come right out and say that she was his former student and team member, but there were lots of people in the war. If Sukea ever decided to ask Kakashi about it, then it would be easily shrugged off when Kakashi told him that he didn’t remember her.

Besides, Kakashi really did ignore her—then and now. She was still upset about him passing over her on Monday like she didn’t even exist, and she had even seen him leaving Tsunade's office on Wednesday too. Both times he had walked right past her and he never came to see her to catch up after he returned from his mission.

_ Did she just say that they had actually met before?  _ Had he met her before? He would like to think he would remember such a woman if he had. But according to her, they had apparently met during the war. He had apparently also ignored her several times. 

She seemed… rather upset about it,

He felt like a jerk and an idiot. He would definitely need to reflect on that a little more later.

“So, that’s how I know him. How I know of him, I mean. How did you meet him?”

There was no point trying to lie; too many lies would give him more chances for error, more chances to contradict himself. “ANBU, I met him in ANBU.”

Saki blinked at him but didn’t interrupt, giving him the opportunity to continue or not.

“Remember when I told you that I was previously a member of the Shinobi Forces?” She nodded, so he continued. “And I told you that I had lost my entire team?” Another nod.

“I joined ANBU after both of my teammates were killed on separate missions. Then while I was in ANBU, my sensei and team leader was killed in the Nine-Tailed Fox attack.

“A few years after that, the Third Hokage released me from duty. I took on photography as a way to try to see the world differently.” 

Kakashi wasn’t entirely sure why he was sharing such personal things with Saki; he never talked about this kind of thing with people. Something about Saki made him feel comfortable, though. Something inside him told him that this woman was not a threat, that she would never hurt him.

Sakura didn’t know what to say to that. She never would have guessed that Sukea’d had such a past. She had heard that ANBU had the most brutal missions of any shinobi. They often had very short lives and a lot of them suffered severe mental and physical issues over time. 

She had learned a lot about them while working at the hospital. She had taken it upon herself to learn as much as she could after an ANBU member had come in to the hospital one night after attempting suicide. They had a higher percent chance of that as well, and Sakura had been the one to heal his self-inflicted injuries.

“I’m so sorry, Sukea. I.. I didn’t. I know what ANBU goes through, I’ve seen it at the hospital.”

“It’s fine, Saki,” he reassured her. Not wanting his dark past to ruin their date, he quickly made for a change of subject. “Tell me about the hospital.”

“I usually work with healing patients, but I recently got approval from Lady Tsunade to start work on a new project. It has to do with the poison department, but I won’t be making a type of poison, it’s actually a healing agent. 

“There is a special plant that is used as a poison that immobilizes the victim and makes it impossible for them to get away. But when I studied the compounds of the plant and its active agents, I realized that it has a lot of good agents as well, ones that we could use if we could control them.

“I think that if we use smaller doses and then dilute the doses so they aren’t quite as powerful, then we could use it as a fast injecting method of alleviating severe pain. It could give medics proper time to heal a patient in the field without them going into shock.”

Kakashi was impressed. If what Saki was saying was true, it would be an amazing aid for shinobi in the field. It could do a lot of good if they could get it to work.

The server arrived with their food and did her best not to interrupt any more than she needed to, understanding that the two of them were on a date and clearly enjoying their conversation. She made sure they didn’t need anything else and quickly left them alone once more.

The two of them ate their food as they continued on with small talk. Kakashi had learned that her favorite color was red, and Sakura had learned that his was dark green, much like the dress that she was currently wearing. She told him her favorite food was dango and that she hated spicy foods. In return he told her that his favorite food was miso soup, that he disliked fried foods, and never ever ate sweets.

They discovered that they had many likes in common as well. They both loved to read, they both enjoyed long walks, they both liked to swim in the summer, and they both preferred dogs over cats.

They had plenty of things that they could enjoy and share together; they were very compatible.

The server was now clearing the dishes from their finished meal off the table. Kakashi had originally planned for the date to end with dinner, but him and Saki were enjoying themselves a bit more than he had expected. He was now trying to think of something they could go do that would still provide them with a decent amount of privacy.

Sakura could tell that Sukea had slipped off into his own mind for a moment, she wondered what he was thinking about so hard. She hoped that she wasn’t boring him to death. Maybe he was just thinking about the rest of their date. 

Was there a ‘rest of the date’? He had never really told her what he had planned after dinner…. She hoped they’d do something she was really enjoying their evening and she wasn’t ready for it to be over yet, especially considering that it might be the only date they had together.

“So what now?” she asked.

Kakashi instantly snapped out of his trance, a little embarrassed to realize that he had spaced out during their conversation. Now Saki was looking at him expectantly, asking what he had planned for them next. He assumed that that was a good sign; the problem was that he hadn’t actually planned any further than this.

Thinking back over their conversation, he searched for clues to something that she would enjoy. Remembering that she had mentioned she liked to take long walks, he thought of the small park near the memorial stone that wasn’t well-known. “Ehh, I thought we could go for a walk, I know of this nice park here in the village.”

“That sounds lovely. I would love that;” she said as she smiled brightly at him.

Oh, that smile of hers is going to get him in trouble; he just knew it. “Great, let’s go then.”

He stood up and offered her a hand to help her out of her seat. They then made their way to the front where Sukea paid for their meals. Now outside of the restaurant, he led the way down the street towards the park. 

As they walked side by side, Kakashi mindlessly brought his arm up to wrap it around Saki’s shoulders, effectively pulling her in and holding her snuggly against him. He was never the kind of man to display affection, especially publicly, but he found himself not too concerned with his actions at the moment. If he were being honest, it was rather nice to have someone to share moments like this with. 

“Dinner was wonderful, by the way. Thank you!” Saki said from her place at his side.

“I’m glad you liked it. Does that mean I get a second date with you?” he asked, smiling down at her. 

Saki wrapped the arm closest to him around his waist and leaned in a little closer. “I would like that,” was all she said. 

Was she agreeing to go out with him again just like that? _ Maybe this isn’t so hard after all. _ Now all he had to do was plan their next date.  _ Shit! Well, I might as well get some ideas while I have the chance. _

“What would you like to do next time?”

“That’s a good question.” What  _ would _ she like to do for a date? Something she already enjoyed doing? Maybe something new? Kiba had only taken her out twice, once to see a movie and once to the ramen shop. After she gave him her virginity, he seemed to lose interest in trying to impress her. 

She tried for months to tell herself that he wasn’t a bad guy, but the more that she thought about it, the more she couldn't deny that Kiba had really only been dating her for sex. Then he broke up with her because she was “frigid.”

Sakura thought that non-traditional date ideas were the best ones;, she had always hoped that she would find a guy who liked them too. _ Maybe Sukea was that guy. _ Surely she had a great date idea that she never got to experience. “I’ve never had someone cook for me before, unless you count my mom.”

“Is there anything in particular that you would like to have made for you?” he asked.

“Maybe Inarizushi?” She suggested. She hadn’t had that since her mom died when she was sixteen. 

“I think that I can make that work.” He knew how to make Inarizushi; he also knew that it kept well at room temperature, which made it perfect for taking on outings. It was currently the middle of October, so it was cooler outside but not cold yet. If they went during the day, it would be perfect weather for a picnic. 

Kakashi knew of a small lake in a clearing not far outside the village, it wasn’t well known. He would just need to come up with a few more food items and pack a blanket for them to sit on. Great, a picnic date it is then.

“Are you free during the day time, or do you work at the hospital then?” He needed to know if she was even available to see him during the day time for this to work.

“I’m free on the weekends, though I usually have brunch with a friend on Saturdays. That never lasts past 11:00 am, though. She has to be at work at noon.”

“What about during the week?”

“Sorry, I’m at the hospital all day during the week.” She told him with a sad smile.

“I see. What about Sunday, around 2:00 in the afternoon? Would that work for you?” he asked.

“This Sunday, as in the day after tomorrow?”

He gave a short nod. “If that works for you.”

She didn’t have anything planned for Sunday except for house work. Meh, what the heck? Why not? “Sunday would work just fine.”

“It must be getting late,” he noted as he looked around the abandoned park.

“Yeah, it is. I should probably be heading home. I have work I brought home from the hospital that I need to get done if I want to have any time for our plans Sunday.”

“Can I walk you home?”

Sakura wasn’t so sure that that was a good idea. She didn’t want Sukea showing up at her place and seeing Sakura instead of Saki. But then again, she did live in an apartment so maybe he could just walk her to her building. Then even if he saw the real her walking around there he would just think that she was another occupant of the building.

“Yeah, sure. Thank you!”

The walk to her apartment building was done in a comfortable silence, both with their arms still wrapped around each other. When they reached her building, she was half worried and half excited at the thought that he might want to come up with her. 

But he seemed to be taking the gentleman approach and ended the night with a kiss instead. 

“Sunday at 2:00?” he asked again.

“Sunday at 2:00.” 

“See you then, Saki.”

“See you then, Sukea.”

She slipped inside the doors to the building and hurried up to her apartment as he turned on his heel to head home. The date was over, but they had solid plans for another and neither could be more pleased about it. 


	7. Henge 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you CherryBerry12 for being such a great beta.  
> Thanks to everyone who is following my story, I hope you continue to enjoy it.  
> Don't forget to leave a review, I like to know what people think about each chapters.
> 
> Enjoy

A loud knock on the other side of the office door took Tsunade’s attention away from the report she’d been reading. It was about time he finally showed up; she’d summoned him over two hours ago. 

“Get in here, Kakashi,” Tsunade barked. Her left eyebrow twitched in irritation. It had already taken the ANBU squad over a week to report back to her from their investigation. The man's life was in danger and he was taking his sweet ass time responding to her summons. Not that he  _ knew  _ that his life was in danger yet, but still. 

“You wanted to see me, Hokage-Sama?” Kakashi asked as he approached her desk.

Tsunade had summoned him to her office a few hours ago—his summons hadn’t said anything about a new mission, and he had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with his last mission.. Lady Tsunade had already called him into her office the day after the mission to discuss some details of it that had drawn her concern, including the group of men who had attacked him and Genma.

“When I read the report that you and Genma submitted after you returned from your last mission, something about the attack just didn’t seem right. That scroll was nothing more than notes from medical research that I have been working on. It was important in its own way, but it didn’t contain any sensitive information that would be of any value to anyone other than who it was intended for.

“After speaking with you about the details of your report, I decided to send a squad of ANBU to gather information about the men who attacked you. I had reason to believe that those men were not after the scroll at all.” 

Kakashi had assumed that much already. The men never demanded or even mentioned the scroll. At the time, he had only assumed that the scroll was what they had been after because it was their mission objective.

“So I’m guessing that I’m here because you’ve gathered information about them,” he said.

“I have.”

“And I presume what they found has something to do with me.” Why else would he be here? If it were just a simple attack of any Leaf Shinobi or a harmless group of rogue ninja, then an ANBU team would have been dispatched to deal with them. The only reason she would be calling him here to discuss this matter would be if it had more to do with him than he had originally thought. 

She nodded, pleased that Kakashi was keeping up to speed as usual. “Are you familiar with the Motoki clan?”

It was from his ANBU days, but he still remembered them fairly well. “Yes, they were a clan under the jurisdiction of Taro Dynamo several years ago.” She motioned for him to continue.

“The leader of the clan, Yagami Motoki, was secretly gathering supporters to overthrow and ultimately assassinate the Taro Dynamo. I was assigned to lead an ANBU team to eliminate all persons involved,” he explained.

“Did you?” 

He gave her a strange look. “Yes?”

“Are you sure?” 

“What is this?” Kakashi was starting to feel a little ‘on the spot’. He wasn’t sure what Lady Tsunade was suggesting, but he didn’t like it.

“You didn’t wipe out the entire clan, did you?” 

“No. That wasn’t the mission.”

“You were assigned a mission to...” Kakashi cut her off.

“To eliminate all persons involved in the plot to assassinate the Dynamo. My mission was not to wipe out an entire clan because the leader was power hungry. My mission was not to kill innocent women and children. My mission was to eliminate the threat to the Dynamo.”

Tsunade pursed her lips before continuing, “The leader of the group that attacked you was a man named Yohiro, Yohiro Motoki. He is the son of Yagami Motoki, the clan leader that you assassinated. Now he is grown and Jonin-level, and looking to get revenge against you.” 

“Wouldn’t be the first time someone from my past was out to kill me.” Kakashi said nonchalantly.

“Damn it, Kakashi, this isn’t a joke! We don’t know how many of them are out there and we don’t know who is on his side and who isn’t. Your next escort mission could be a ploy to lead you into a trap,” she snapped at him. Taking a deep breath, she continued, “Do you care nothing for your life, Kakashi? Have you really been lost in the darkness for so long that you can’t even bring yourself to care that someone wants to kill you?” she asked in a softer tone.

The truth was that Kakashi hadn’t cared about his life in a very long time; he had nothing left and no one left to come home to. He had bonded with Team Seven and continuously put his life on the line for their sake, believing that their lives were more important than his own. But they had all left him too, in one way or another… 

Then he was all alone again.

But when he was with Saki, Kakashi didn’t feel so alone anymore. The world didn’t seem so dark and didn’t feel so cold.  _ Great, now I sound like Guy.  _ He chuckled to himself at the thought. If Saki could make him sound like Guy, then he really was in trouble. Perhaps he had found a reason to care if he made it home from a mission or not. He had always hoped for someone to come home to. 

“I do care, actually. I have plans tomorrow. Which I really should be getting home to prepare for; is it alright if I go now?”

If she wasn’t misreading his demeanor, it sounded like Kakashi was planning for a date with someone. Staring at him dumbfounded, Tsunade nodded.Who would have thought that Kakashi Hatake would find someone special? Good for you, Kakashi.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“See, I told you that it was a good idea to go on that date,” Ino said triumphantly.

“I know, I know. You were right, Ino,” Sakura said half-sarcastically. Sakura had just finished telling Ino everything that she could about her date with Sukea last night. 

“Sakura, I  _ am  _ glad that you went; you deserve a guy who treats you like Sukea does. This seems good for you,” Ino said in a more serious tone.

“Do you really think so?”

Ino nodded and grinned at her friend.

“Good, because I’m seeing him again tomorrow.”

“WHAT?!”

* * *

  
  
  


Kakashi was looking over fruits and vegetables at a stand, picking out items for his picnic with Saki tomorrow. He had just picked out some cucumbers, and he was now looking at watermelon. Going through his mental list, he still needed to get rice, eggs, and the sushi for Saki’s Inarizushi, and then he was finished with the shopping part of things.

He had chosen 2:00 for their date because he wanted to make sure he had enough time to prepare and cook all of the food fresh. He had never done anything like this for anyone before and had decided that if he was going to do it, then he was going to do it right. 

Mentally running through his plan of events for tomorrow, he reminded himself that he would need to dig out an old blanket for them to lay out and cups for the tea.  _ Should I make a desert too? She did say that she likes sweets, maybe some dango,  _ he thought to himself. 

Kakashi had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts of Saki that he didn’t notice the pink haired young woman waving at him as she approached. Completely unaware of Sakura, Kakashi walked off to the next stand without ever realizing that he had walked right past her.

Sakura had been on her way home from lunch with Ino when she decided to stop by the market to grab something for dinner before heading home. She had a lot of work to cram into today if she wanted to make her date with Sukea tomorrow; she couldn’t afford any major disruptions like having to leave the house to get dinner. 

She was looking through the stand of spices and herbs when she noticed a shock of silver in her peripheral and looked up to see Kakashi standing at another stand looking at watermelons. He still had not come to see her since he had gotten back from his mission two weeks ago. She had even crossed paths with him a couple of times, and he still hadn’t noticed her.

Sakura decided to muster up some bravery and approach him herself. All she wanted was a friendship with her former team leader, to be acknowledged by him when they crossed paths. Throwing on a warm smile, she began to walk towards him and when she got about four feet away she threw up one hand in a small wave.

He never even looked at her; he turned slightly and headed off to another stand. Sakura's hand fell to her side along with her smile.  _ That jerk! Who does he think he is? Some righteous self involved ass! How can you walk right past a team mate that you had for years and not even notice them? What the hell is so damn important? _

Kakashi got further away as Sakura mentally ripped him a new one. For a split second, she thought about going after him to tell him all this to his face. She wanted to. She needed to clear the air between them and get this conversation over with.

Before she had made up her mind, he had disappeared into the crowd. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Sakura decided to drop it and move on with her day. She had a lot to do before her date tomorrow with Sukea and no time for distractions. Instead she went home to work on her project and think about a man who didn’t frustrate her so much.

* * *

  
  


Kakashi finished the Inarizushi for their picnic around 1pm on Sunday. He needed to leave at about 1:30 to meet Saki. Looking at the display of food on his kitchen counter, Kakashi was pleased with his work.

He had made Saki the Inarizushi that she had asked for, as well as onigiri, sliced cucumber with miso, sliced watermelon, tamagoyaki, and tea. He mentally checked everything off as he packed it in the basket, then the cups, and finally the old blanket. 

Now all he needed to do was perform the henge jutsu. He flew through the hand seals like the Famous Copy Ninja he was and became Sukea in a matter of seconds. He looked at the clock—1:28, perfect timing. He grabbed the basket and headed out the door. 

* * *

  
  
  


A few minutes later, Sukea arrived at the Kintai Bridge to find Saki already there waiting for him. She was wearing a long sleeved shirt with orange, black, and white horizontal trips on it, and a pair of tight black pants. She reminded him of how the leaves change colors this time of year.

Sakura looked at Sukea as he approached her, basket in one hand and blanket in the other. He looked comfortable in his T-shirt and loose jeans, good looking but comfortable nonetheless. He leaned in to give her a quick kiss before holding out his elbow for her to take. They began walking towards the front gate at the entrance to the village. 

Sakura noticed that they were heading out of the village and eyed the basket Sukea was carrying. It was pretty clear what he had planned for them to do, It was a picnic date.  _ How cute, and sweet, _ she thought. 

“Are we going on a picnic today?” she asked, smiling at him brightly.

“We are; is that alright?” 

“I think it’s wonderful. I haven’t been on a picnic since I was in the academy,” she told him.

“I’ve never been on one, but I hear they are rather simple,” he half-joked.

“Seriously, never?”

“Not unless you count camping out on missions during my ANBU days.,” he said nonchalantly.

“Well, that doesn’t count. I’m happy to be your first picnic partener though,” she teased.

He gave a light chuckle at her antics. They had passed through the gates about twenty minutes ago and were about to be at the clearing. Just a few more feet and… “Here we are,” he announced.

Stopping to take in the scenery, Sakura recognized where they were. This was where Kakashi had taken Naruto and Yamato to learn how to change his chakra nature to make the rasenshuriken. It was a large clearing that had a small lake with a waterfall running into it. It was heavily surrounded by trees and very peaceful. This time of year, the leaves were all changing colors and only made it even more beautiful. 

Sukea must have been right about it being a well-kept secret; she had never heard of anyone else knowing about this place, and it looked virtually undisturbed.

It was the perfect place for a picnic; Sakura beamed up at Sukea. There was no denying; he was slowly but surely sweeping her off her feet. She watched while Sukea set that basket down and began to fan out the blanket. She quickly made her way across from him and grabbed the two corners of the blanket opposite of Sukea.

“Here, let me help. It will lay out smoother with two people,” she told him.

She had a point. “Thank you,” he told her after they had laid out the blanket on the ground. He got to his knees and began pulling items out of the basket to lay them out.

“Do you need any help?” she asked.

“No, I’ve got it. You just sit back and relax,” he told her.

Sakura sat back and watched Sukea lay out their food; it all looked wonderful. She honestly couldn’t wait to try it. She wondered for a moment where he had gotten all of this from. The thought passed when Sukea handed her a cup of tea and a pair of chopsticks. All of the food that he had brought were more or less bite sized foods, so there was no reason for plates. 

Sakura reached over and grabbed a bite of the Inarizushi. It was made very similar to the way her mom used to make it. “This is really good,” she said after swallowing her bite.

“I’m glad you like it,“ he chuckled. 

“Where did you get it from?” If he had gotten it from a restaurant or store, she wanted to know where so she could stock up.

“I made it myself, actually.”

Sakura stopped, “All of this?” she asked.

He nodded.

Wow, he was treading the line of perfect man at this point. He was handsome, intelligent, understood her work, fun, playful, sweet, amazing in bed, and now he was a great cook. Really, what more could a girl ask for in a man?

“You had mentioned the Inarizushi Friday night; I thought I would make it for you. But we couldn’t just have just that, so I picked a few other things to bring along as well.“

“It’s amazing, all of it. Thank you so much, Sukea. I haven’t had Inarizushi since I was sixteen. It was my favorite dish that my mom would make when I was growing up.” 

“If it's your favorite then, why haven’t you had it since you were sixteen? Does your mom not make it for you anymore?” 

“No, she doesn’t. She died when I was sixteen. I never learned how to make it before she was gone so I haven’t had it since,” she told him, bowing her head slightly.

She had lost her mother at sixteen? He’d been even younger when he lost his own father, but he knew what that was like.“Saki, I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. She isn’t in pain anymore now.”

“How did she die?” he asked hesitantly. He didn’t want to push her too hard or make her uncomfortable.

“ Encephalitis . It’s extremely rare and the symptoms are sudden, it causes swelling of the brain. It’s irreversible and chakra healing does nothing for it,” she explained. 

It was sad that she had gone through such a tragedy; he hoped that she hadn’t had to do it alone. “What about your father?”

“He left my mother for another woman three years before; he lives in another country now with her.“

Kakashi’s eyes slid closed, and he tilted his head back. Within three years, her father had abandoned her and her mother had died, leaving her alone. All during her teenage years at that.

“I never knew my mother; she died giving birth to me. My father died when I was ten,” he said quietly. 

“How?” she asked, just as quiet. 

“Suicide. He was ashamed of a failed mission and took his own life for it. I came home to find him in our living room. I moved out of the house after the funeral; I couldn’t stand to be there alone,” he admitted. 

He was never this open with people. He hated letting people in and letting people see his ghosts. There was just something about Saki, something he trusted, something she gave him when she was around. He couldn’t explain it, but he was drawn to her.

The more he got to know Saki, the more he wanted her to know him. Not that he was ready to settle down and fully commit to her or anything; it was much too soon to be talking of that. But he could definitely see them being something more than what he usually had with women. He supposed that if he ever did decide to settle down with someone, she would probably be much like Saki.

Putting it that way, he supposed that one day maybe it could be Saki.

“Sukea, you were a shinobi.”

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Yes, I was.” 

“When was the last time you sparred with someone?” she asked with a mischievous grin.

“I, uhh. Well, I suppose it’s been a while. What do you have in mind?”

“I want to spar with you.” 

Spar? With him? Oh, she didn’t know what she was asking. Or rather,  _ who  _ she was asking. But he found himself unable to say no to her at that moment. “All right, I’m game.”

She climbed to her feet and placed her hands on her hips. “Alright rules are no Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, and no chakra enhancement. Taijutsu only—just strength, strategy, and technique.”

She needed to put down some rules so that she didn’t give herself away with her chakra enhanced strength or other abilities that weren’t standard for medical ninja. Sakura was only one of three medical ninja allowed on the front lines because she had the combat skills to take care of herself. Sukea seeing that would raise some questions.

_ Easy enough rules to remember, _ Kakashi thought to himself. They were the same set of rules he used for training with Team Seven; it helped to keep things even with everyone's special abilities. It also forced them to not rely too much on said special abilities.

This also worked out well for Kakashi because he couldn’t use his full potential in front of Saki. There were few ninjas of his caliber, so he couldn't use the multiple jutsu of different natures he had in his arsenal and have it go unnoticed. “Alright then, fair enough.”

“Are you ready?” she asked

He nodded once. 

“And… GO!” she shouted and Sukea was gone in flash.

_ Wow, he’s fast!  _ She hadn’t been expecting that. But she should have; he said he was former ANBU.

The next thing Sakura knew, Sukea was behind her attempting to sweep her legs. She leaped backwards into a back handspring to avoid it. He would have to do better than that. 

She lunged forward in a counter-attack, throwing one kick, then two. Missing both attacks, she threw a punch. He grabbed her wrist mid-strike and spun her around, her back family against his hard chest. 

“Aggressive when you spar, aren’t you?’’ he whispered in her ear. 

“You haven’t seen anything yet.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she brought both arms over their heads, locking her fingers behind his head. She bent her knees and pressed back against him, effectively lifting him off the ground. Once she had heels off the ground, she quickly used her leverage on his upper body to throw him over her head. 

He hit the ground in seconds and she disappeared into the trees to wait out an attack. Kakashi hadn’t been expecting that—he had never even seen someone do it before. Sure, you use an opponent's own weight against them when you can, but he had never seen it done quite like that.

Scanning his surroundings, he looked for any sign of Saki. Just then, he caught movement to his left, out of the corner of his eye. _ There!  _ He focused his attention to that spot. waiting for the attack to come. It didn’t. Instead, it came from his back right; she had intentionally drawn his attention so that she could sneak up on him from the opposite side.  _ Clever girl!  _

Sakura lunged towards Sukea, throwing her first at his head. He side-stepped her attack just in time, but it was still close enough that he felt the fabric of her sleeve graze his cheek. He grabbed her elbow and spun her around, this time so she faced him. She countered by throwing a knee up into his side and breaking free of his grip. 

He was definitely a former ANBU; the way he fought reminded Sakura of Kakashi’s fighting style. His reaction speed was incredibly fast, and his battle senses were even better. This time he made the attack, coming at her head on. Then he was gone in a blur. Checking her left, then right, then behind, she couldn’t see him. This was a no-jutsu spar, so he couldn’t be below her.  _ Shit, above.  _

She looked up just in time to see him coming down on her from a tree. She dove to her right to avoid it, but as soon as she rolled to her feet, he was on her again. Feigning a roundhouse, he then bent the knee of his supporting leg to quickly turn it into a leg sweep.

This move caught Sakura off guard. This time, she wasn’t able to avoid his leg sweep, and her legs were knocked out from underneath her. As soon as her back hit the ground, she rolled backwards onto her feet into a crouching position.

Kakashi had been studying her fighting style and attack patterns since the spar began. He knew that any second she would lunge at him with another attack. All he had to do was be patient and wait for the right moment to counter. 

She did as he expected and leapt forward with a kick. Kakashi caught her leg and threw it over his shoulder, holding it there with his hand, then using his other hand he grabbed the back of the knee of her opposite leg. Pulling both legs out from underneath her and keeping one pinned high on his shoulder, she fell backwards onto the ground face up with Sukea on top and looking down at her. 

“I do believe this means I win, hmm?” he teased.

Instead of a witty come back or admitting defeat, she threw both arms around his neck and pulled him down for a heated kiss. As Kakashi kissed her back, he thought to himself,  _ I could get used to this.  _

The sight of Saki beneath him was undeniably enticing. It was more than a little arousing to spend the afternoon sparing with a beautiful woman who could hold her own in a fight. He could do this several times a week and never get sick of it. 

He looked down at the woman beneath him, skin glistening with a thin sheen of sweat, hair mussed, chest heaving up and down with each breath, and lust-filled blue eyes. Suddenly, Saki was wearing far too much clothing.  _ Well, I’ll have to fix that _ , he thought as he pressed his lips to hers again.

With the adrenaline pumping through her, Sakura was in no mood to wait. She hastily began fumbling with his pants to get them off. The last thing she heard before giving herself over to him completely was that low husky chuckle in her ear. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so happy that you guys are enjoying this story so much. Thank you everyone for all of your support. All the follows and comments are a big motivation for me. 
> 
> I have had a few questions in the comments so i wanted to take this opportunity to answer a few of them.
> 
> In regards to Sakura/ Saki ‘s eye color changing from the hinged blue to her natural green: Henges take chakra and a considerable amount of chakra control/ concentration. So when Sakura has an overwhelming moment (like a climax), then her concentration slips a little and her eyes lose the henge.  
> No, Kakashi does not know where Sakura lives at this point. She has moved out of her family home since she left team Kakashi and they haven’t kept in touch enough for him to know that.  
> Genma was not in a henge the night at the bar with Ino because he had no reason to be. Ino and Sakura are doing this to not be recognized by people like Kakashi and Genma, Kakashi only did it in that scene because he needed Saki to recognize him.  
> They do both still feel guilty about the disguises and the lies that are told about them. But most of the things that they share are actually true therefore they are getting to know the real person under a different name and not a fake person. 
> 
> I hope this was helpful. Thanks for reading, don’t forget to leave a review. 
> 
> Enjoy everyone!

Ino sat at the table in the small tea shop staring at Sakura, who was positively glowing. It had now been about six weeks since Sakura had first met Sukea. After their first date, they began seeing each other regularly, and every time Sakura saw him she was on cloud nine for days. 

Sakura may not have realized it yet, but she had fallen for Sukea, hard.

Ino liked Sukea for Sakura; he seemed good for her. Ino had never seen Sakura so happy before. Unfortunately, there was something about the situation that was bothering Ino, like there was something about Sukea they weren’t seeing. 

The man had appeared out of nowhere with the story of being a traveling photographer who only occasionally passed through Konoha. Sakura said that he didn’t live nearby and that his work took him all over, but he was there pretty much every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to spend time with Sakura.

Even a trip to Suna took three days there and three days back, so how could he leave Monday morning and be back Friday afternoon? Unless he really did live nearby and didn’t want anyone to know. But what could he be hiding that was so important?

She hoped that she was just being paranoid, or at least that Sukea wasn’t hiding anything big. What if he had a girlfriend? Or a wife, with kids? Ino internally pleaded for that not to be true. If Sakura found out that Sukea was just using her, or that she was some dirty mistress, she would never recover.

“Sakura,” Ino said softly.

“Yeah?”

“When do you plan on coming clean to Sukea?” Ino asked. 

“I don’t know Ino. When it matters, I guess.”

“Don’t you think it already matters?” Ino had a feeling Sakura was in denial about how serious things were getting with Sukea.

“Not really. Like you said, we’re just having fun, right?”

“Sakura, you have been seeing him for six weeks now. That’s not  _ just  _ having fun anymore,” Ino tried to explain.

“Nothing has happened to indicate that Sukea thinks anything like that, Ino. I’ll tell him if it ever gets serious enough for him to need to know,” Sakura reassured her. 

Yep, her best friend was head over heels and in complete denial of it. The big question was whether Sukea had fallen as hard as Sakura had. Ino sighed heavily.

“Well, I should get going. I need to do some work with my  Gelsemium project before I go to meet Sukea tonight. I’ll see you later Ino.” Sakura waved as she headed out of the tea shop. 

There was only one way for Ino to find out for sure if Sukea was as serious about Sakura as she was about him, and that was to see it for herself. It was her duty as Sakura’s best friend to make sure that the guy that she was dating was serious. That was all the convincing Ino needed to justify spying on Sakura and Sukea later that night. 

* * *

  
  
  


The cool night air was making his nose cold; it always did this time of year without his mask on. It was a Saturday night and the middle of November. Kakashi was in his Sukea henge on his way to see Saki. They had been seeing each other more often since their first official date about four weeks ago. 

He looked forward to seeing her; seeing Saki had become the highlight of his week.

He and Saki had still not spent the night together, so to speak. Sure they had spent all night long in each other's company, but not in a way that involved sleeping. That detail relieved Kakashi and worried him at the same time. Saki always had a reason that she had to leave afterwards and Kakashi never stopped her or questioned her because he knew it was better that way.

He was relieved that he wouldn’t have to fake sleeping in order to keep up his henge but bothered that she never seemed to mind not sleeping next to him during their nights together. Kakashi prided himself on seeing underneath the underneath and had contemplated several possibilities as to why Saki would not want to sleep in the same bed as him.

He didn’t like thinking that Saki was misleading him or hiding something from him. He simply hoped that whatever her reasons were, they were something that wouldn’t be detrimental to their relationship. He thought about the possibility of her having a husband, but he felt that he knew her well enough to know that she wasn’t that kind of woman. Plus, she never tried to hide their relationship while they were out in public.

They spent time together quite often; they hadn’t missed a single weekend since their first date. Usually they spent at least Friday evening and Saturday together after her girls date together, and they often found the time to be together on Sunday as well. It was what he was doing then--he was on his way to the Rusty Shuriken to spend the evening with Saki.

He smirked to himself at his own thoughts. Excitement bubbling in his chest at the thought of her, Kakashi quickened his pace as he walked through the entertainment district. He rounded the corner to where the entrance of the Rusty Shuriken was and pulled open the door. 

* * *

  
  
  


Ino sat in the corner of the small bar near the back hallway. She wasn’t in her Niko henge to avoid being recognized by Sukea. She was hiding from Sakura too, and she didn’t want her to know that she was spying. She had been there for about an hour and Sakura - disguised as Saki - had shown up about thirty minutes ago. Ino was trying to stay out of sight while keeping Sakura in her sights at the same time. She couldn’t risk missing Sukea showing up and disappearing with Sakura.

Sakura was sitting at a high top table alone waiting for Sukea when a man at the bar noticed her sitting alone. Ino watched a knowing smirk spread across the man's face, before he got up from the bar and made his way to Sakura’s table. 

Bracing one arm on the table, the man leaned in to greet Sakura. She leaned back carefully, trying to keep some distance between them. Ino could tell Sakura was trying to politely wave the man off. He didn’t seem to be catching on to what she was saying, or he didn’t care.

“Aren’t you a little young to be hanging out here, doll face?” asked a male voice behind Ino.

Spinning around to face the voice, Ino snapped, “Who are you calling doll…” but her sentence died in her throat. It was Genma. “Hardly. Aren’t you a little old to be hanging out here?” she retorted 

__ “Ouch. Go for the kill strike, why don’t ya.”

Ino straightened her back and crossed her arms under her breasts as she locked eyes with him. 

Sliding into the chair next to her, Genma said, “So, what are you doing here anyway? Do you like coming to places to hide in corners by yourself?” 

Ino snorted, “I’m here being a good friend, obviously.”

“Right, obviously that’s what you are doing.” 

“I am. I’m here looking out for Sakura,” Ino fumed.

“Sakura, isn’t that your little pink haired friend? She’s cute; I didn’t know she was seeing anyone.” 

“Yeah well, she is. She’s been seeing this guy for a while now and she seems to be getting pretty serious about him. I just want to make sure that he is as serious as she is. I don’t want her to get hurt.”

Ino couldn’t say that she was there for Saki--she wasn’t in her henge, and Genma knew who she was without it. Besides, lies were easier when they were partial truths, especially because she had no intentions of letting Genma stick around.

“You're a good friend, Ino.” Genma had been sitting at the bar when he noticed Asuma’s only female student hanging out in a bar all alone. The Rusty Shuriken was no place for a young woman alone. 

He decided to stick close to her for now; he couldn’t leave her there to be harassed by the creeps there that liked to take advantage of beautiful young women. 

“What are you doing here anyways, Genma?” Ino asked.

“The same thing as you, being nosey about my friend's personal life.” 

“Oh? Who are you looking for?”

“Ehh, a friend named Sukea. He’s meeting his girl up here tonight and my situation is similar to yours. He has been through a lot in life, and if she breaks his heart, I don’t know what it would do to him,” Genma answered honestly.

Oh no… he was looking for Sukea and Saki too. What was she supposed to do now? Ino was trying to think of a way to distract Genma when a loud crack echoed across the entire bar. Ino and Genma both turned towards the sound to find Sukea holding the man who had been hitting on Saki up against the wall.

* * *

  
  
  


Kakashi walked into the bar and immediately began to search for Saki. He found her in seconds, and she wasn’t alone. She was sitting at a high top table and a man was leaning on the table, bracing himself with one arm. Saki was leaning back and away from the man, clearly not comfortable with his proximity. Kakashi knew that look--the man thought that she had been stood up and that meant she was ‘easy pickings.’ He didn’t appreciate that train of thought being associated with Saki. Not one bit.

He could see the strained fake smile she was giving the man, as well as the polite gestures to decline whatever it was that he was offering. He didn’t seem to want to take no for an answer. The man leaned in even closer to her and placed his free hand high on Saki’s thigh.

Pure mortification crossed her face before she attempted to shove his hand away. Kakashi was seeing red; the next moment he was between them with a death grip on the man’s wrist. The man looked from Sukea to Saki back to Sukea, then laughed.

“You must be the boyfriend,” the man addressed Sukea. 

Kakashi nodded. “I am.” he replied.

Sakura was openly gaping at the man in front of her. _Boyfriend?_ _Sukea thought he was my boyfriend?_

The man smirked as he looked over Sukea’s shoulder at Saki’s shocked expression. “She doesn’t seem to be so sure about that, maybe we should ask her. So, are you his girl or what?” 

Sakura snapped out of her shock and jumped up from her seat. She placed one hand tightly on Sukea’s wrist and the other on his forearm. “I am,” she declared to the man, then turned to face Sukea, giving him all of her attention. “Sukea, it’s alright, really,” she tried to tell him.

“No it isn’t, Saki. I don’t appreciate him treating you with such disrespect.” 

Sakura felt it endearing that Sukea would defend her in such a way. It was sweet, really. Right now, though, she needed to defuse the situation. “I know, but he didn’t hurt me or anything. It’s nothing worth causing a fuss over. Let’s just leave. I don’t really feel like hanging out here tonight anyways,” she suggested as she placed a delicate hand on his forearm.

Kakashi wanted nothing more than to go somewhere else with Saki at that moment. Releasing the man’s wrist, he gently grabbed Saki’s hand and pulled her through the bar and out the front door of the bar. Genma and Ino both jumped up immediately to follow them.

Kakashi led Saki to the small park where they had gone on their first date. As soon as they reached the picnic table in the center, he hoisted her up onto the table and positioned himself between her legs. With one hand on the small of her back and the other on the back of her head, he gave her a passionate kiss that had their teeth clacking together. 

Kakashi was overtaken by an unfamiliar feeling inside of him as he hastily freed his member. His hands fumbled trying to slide Sakis’s pants down, but he didn’t need to take them off all the way—just enough to access her. His normal skilled and accurate actions were now shaky and clumsy. He pulled back from the kiss long enough to align himself with her entrance, and with one quick thrust he was buried in her to the hilt. 

Then he was thrusting in and out of her, continuing to kiss her passionately. Sakura was still trying to wrap her head around what was happening. One minute she was being pulled along and worried that Sukea was mad at her, the next she was on a table  _ outside _ and Sukea was inside of her kissing her like he hadn’t seen her for months. 

In the six weeks she had known him and several times they had been intimate, Sukea had never taken her this way before. Usually, he would either tease her mercilessly by bringing her to her peak and then stopping just before she fell off the edge, and then doing it over and over again until she was begging him to be inside of her. Or he would do the opposite and make her orgasm over and over again before finally entering her.

But this was neither/ Sukea seemed to be going purely off of animalistic instinct. He wasn’t being rough or aggressive, but he was hungrier and more passionate than he had ever been before. Something was different; there was a shift in their relationship with this. To what exactly, she didn’t know.

Sakura’s arms and legs were wrapped tightly around Sukea. He had one hand on the back of her neck and the other at the base of her spine, holding her close as he moved in and out of her. Sukea’s kisses were deep and passionate, his hands caressing her firmly but not harshly. The pace was much faster than usual for them, but it felt amazing to Sakura regardless. 

Sakura could feel his passion for her in his touches, and she could feel marks forming from his love bites. She had never experienced this kind of emotion directed at her before. It was nice but a bit overwhelming as well. She was reaching her peak now and she tried to cry out his name, but his mouth covered hers, sealing her gasps between them. 

Kakashi wanted to hear all of the beautiful sounds Saki made for him. At that moment, though, he couldn’t bear to hear her call out anything that wasn’t his real name. 

He wanted to hear her cry out his name, to run her fingers through his silver hair instead of Sukea’s brown hair. He wanted her as Kakashi, and he wanted her all to himself.

Her climax hit and he couldn’t hold back his own. He emptied himself deep inside of her and dropped his head to rest on her shoulder to catch his breath. Saki was still shaking and clinging to his shirt in the aftermath of her own climax. 

They stayed like that for a few minutes before Saki broke the silence, “Why?’ was all she said.

There was a lot she could be asking, but Kakashi knew what she meant. Why did he attack that man in the bar, why did he bring her here, why did he take her on a picnic table in the middle of a public park?

The only answer Kakashi could come up with was that he had just suddenly felt a need for her. He had needed her, right then and there. Like he was drowning and she was air, he had needed her. He didn’t like that man so close to her, he didn’t like the look he gave her, and he certainly didn’t like him touching HIS Saki!

His Saki. Kakashi realized with that statement what the real answer was. He had fallen for her slowly, and now it was hitting him all at once. He didn’t want to share her with anyone, and he didn’t want anyone else claiming her. He wanted her to be his. 

He pulled his head back so that he could look her in the eyes. Her beautiful blue eyes were so bright they looked green under the moonlight as they stared back at him. “Because you're mine,” he told her honestly, unashamed of his own admission. The moonlight even gave her red hair a pink tint tonight.

Sakura was at a loss for words. She looked into Sukea’s eyes and there she saw it, raw and unfiltered. He cared for her—a lot. She could see it in the way he looked at her, his eyes warm, his touches gentle, and his voice soft. He truly cared for her. 

This should have made her happy. It did, but at the same time… this wasn’t supposed to be serious, it was only fun. Because the man before her who had grown to care about her, didn’t actually care about her! He cared for Saki, someone who didn’t exist. 

Panic washing over her, Sakura jumped off the table and began fixing her clothes. “I have to go,” she told him hastily. 

She would need to go straight home to clean up, in the haste and excitement of the situation they had not stopped to think about protection. She knew that it was reckless and careless, yet a part of her deep down didn’t mind the risk with Sukea.

Kakashi watched Saki’s panicked expression. He hadn’t intended to make her uncomfortable or scare her off, but he had obviously spooked her with his confession. “Saki, wait. What did I do?” 

Kakashi was back to his usual cool demeanor on the outside, but inside he was a mess. What if she was afraid of him now? He knew his actions were a little intense, and his confession was sudden. He was never like that; he never lost his cool like that. Had he pushed her too far? Had he scared her? 

She stopped and looked up at him. He was giving her that weird look again and it only made her feel worse about lying to him. “Nothing, I just… I have a lot of work to do. I’ll see you around.” She didn’t plan on following through with that; she needed to stop leading him on before someone got hurt.

She began hastily walking off towards her apartment when Sukea called out to her. “The bridge tomorrow night, I’ll be there.” He didn’t have to specify which bridge; she knew. 

“I’ll think about it,” she told him without looking back.

  
  
  
  


Genma and Ino were standing off in the distance, having seen the whole thing, including the sex in the park and Sukea’s confession. Ino and Genma looked at each other. 

“Weren’t you looking for your friend Sakura?” he asked.

Ino scoffed at him, “You idiot, that was Sakura!” 

“Wait, what?” 

“Saki. Saki is Skaura. She is using a henge,” Ino said exasperatedly. “That night at the bar, with Saki and NIko? That was me and Sakura in henges.”

“You’re telling me that girl is Sakura. As in Kakashi Hatake’s former student Sakura?”

“What other Sakura do I hang out with?” she asked sarcastically.

“Oh, hell.”

“What? Is there something we need to know about your friend Sukea?’

Genma let out a dry laugh, “Yeah, you could say that. Sukea isn’t Sukea.”

“Then who the hell is he?” Ino demanded.

“Kakashi Hatake. Sukea is Kakashi. He met Saki one night at a bar disguised in a henge trying to hide from people so he wouldn’t be bothered. And he has no idea that the woman that he had started seeing that night Saki is actually Sakura.”

Genma had decided a few years ago that if Kakashi ever showed a real interest in a woman he would be there to support it. Kakashi had been through hell in his life and he deserved to have someone to come home to, to find someone who made him happy. He wasn’t sure if that someone was Saki or not, but she was the closest he had ever seen. 

Really, they had seemed to be a great fit for each other. Saki was good for Kakashi. Genma had never seen the man so happy with life, but they couldn’t continue to keep their true identities a secret from each other much longer. The more they bonded through their fake identities, the bigger the feel of betrayal would be when the truth came out.

“From the looks of things they have both fallen for each other pretty hard, and Sakura seems to be freaking out a little over that fact,” Genma said.

“Yeah, I know. She’ss been in denial for a while now about how serious things have become between them. What are we going to do?”

“Give Sakura some space to sort out her emotions first, then those two need to find out who they have really been dating. The longer they wait, the worse it will be.”

“Agreed.”

Genma gave Ino a mischievous smirk, “What are you looking at?” she asked.

“That night at the bar, it was you that I took home that night, wasn’t it?” he asked

_ Oh yeah, that did happen that night. Huh.  _ “Yeah, so what? Do you have a problem with it now?”

“Not at all. I was just thinking I actually like Ino better than Niko.” he said with a wide grin.

“Is that so?” she smirked back.

“Mmhmm.”

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Sukea was standing at the bridge. He had been waiting there for hours. Sakura knew because she had been hiding in the shadows watching him, waging a war within herself. Things had changed for them last night. Or maybe they had been changing all along and they had only realized it last night.

Either way, this thing between them was much more than Sakura had given it credit for. She wasn’t sure what she and Sukea ‘were,’ or what to call whatever it was that they were doing. She knew it wasn’t just having fun and no strings attached now. 

She also knew that she didn’t want it to stop. 

Kakashi knew she was there. He could sense her. But he wouldn’t say anything; he would be patient with her and let her make up her own mind. Then he felt her move, coming closer. He stood still, waiting for her.

Saki walked up behind Sukea and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling herself tightly against his back. 

“Saki, whatever it is, whatever I did, I’m sorry. I..” 

“Shh, don’t, please. Just don’t.” He nodded and gripped her hands with his own as she buried her face between his shoulder blades.

Kakashi understood; this was all new territory for him as well. He didn’t want to pressure her into anything—he wanted her to come to him openly. He would be patient and let her take her time. She had her reasons for her reservations, and he of all people could understand that. He assumed that it was the reason why she never slept next to him or why she had never tried putting a ‘label’ on what they had like most other women did. 

She simply wasn’t ready. That was alright though; in Kakashi’s opinion this was worth waiting for.

“Sukea,” Saki called.

“Yes,”

“There’s a festival here in Konoha in a couple of weeks, will you go with me?” she asked timidly. 

“I’d like that Saki,” he said softly.

It would seem like a small gesture to anyone else, but Kakashi knew it was anything but. She didn’t want to talk about last night. She wouldn’t even face him right now. But she had shown up to see him tonight. She was here and she was making plans to see him again. 

It was a gesture that told him that despite whatever had spooked her about the night before, whatever this was that they were doing, it wasn’t over yet.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank all my readers for your support, you guy's are amazing. Please continue to leave comments it's helps me to know I'm taking the story in the right direction.
> 
> Sorry for the delay on this chapter, it has some major points in it and required a little more time.
> 
> As always I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, I think it's a fun one.

Sakura looked at her henged self in the full length mirror. She was in an elegant black kimono with a cherry blossom tree on the left side, its green leaves and pink flower petals falling off of it and scattering across the rest of the fabric. Her long red hair was pulled up in an intricate knot, sitting at the lower back part of her head and with a matching dark green  Kanzashi hair comb and obi. 

She smiled at herself. She did look very lovely; she hoped that Sukea thought the same when she saw him at the festival tonight. She thought for a moment about how the colors of the kimono would have made her natural hair and eye color pop, but she frowned at the thought. 

She didn’t like thinking about herself as Sakura when she was with Sukea; it made her feel too guilty. She didn’t like thinking that Sukea might not like her so much as Sakura, or how he might react if he found out she had been lying to him all this time about who she really was. 

Two weeks ago on the bridge, she had struggled with herself over those very same thoughts. She wanted to tell him the truth, to tell him everything, but she was afraid. They were too deep in this to turn back. 

She had taken the time to put some serious thought into Sukea and her feelings for him. She realized she had fallen for him and him for her. It was still a bit strange to think such a thing, Sakura loved Sukea, and Sukea loved.... Sukea loved Saki. A part of Sakura had become jealous of Saki over this fact. She looked back up and met Saki’s light blue eyes.

“I envy you,” she whispered to her mirrored self before turning to leave. She would be late to meet Sukea if she didn’t get going. 

* * *

  
  
  


Genma knocked on the door. A moment later it opened and blond hair and blue eyes greeted him. 

“Hey there, doll face.” He smirked at her.

“Don’t call me that, old man,“ Ino snapped.

“Would it kill you to be nice to me? This is a date, ya know.”

Ino scowled at him. “It’s not like it’s a real date. We are only going to the festival together to work on getting Sakura and Kakashi to drop the act they are putting on.”

_ I guess that answers that question _ , he sighed to himself. He and Ino had decided that they would try to get Sakura and Kakashi to open up to each other. They’d agreed then that it would be best if it happened sooner rather than later, because the deeper Kakashi and Sakura got, the more it would hurt when the truth came out. 

Genma had hoped that spending some extra time with Ino would soften her edges a little. He really did like her better than Niko and in more than one way. But Ino was proving to be incredibly guarded. This was something Genma had hoped to figure out while they were out tonight. “Well, are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, I’m ready,” she answered as she stepped out of the apartment and turned to close the door. After locking it, she turned back to Genma who had cocked out his elbow for her to take. 

She did, and they began their walk to the festival.

  
  
  


They had been walking for about ten minutes, and Genma decided then would probably be the best time to ask the question that had been bothering him for two weeks.

“Hey, Ino?” Genma started.

“Yeah?”

“Why is it that you and Sakura are doing this whole henge thing anyways?” he asked.

“I thought the reason was obvious that night at the bar.” She snorted.

“Yeah, I get what you were doing. But what I’m asking is why you’re doing it under false identities?” he asked, trying to clarify his question.

Ino stopped walking. For a moment she just stood there, staring at the ground. “Because it’s not fair,” she eventually replied.

Slightly confused, Genma pressed her to elaborate. “What’s not fair?”

“The double standards with men and women who go out!” She seethed. “Have you or any of your friends ever talked about a girl who was known to not stick to one man?” she asked.

He had. On a regular basis, actually. “Yes,” he answered honestly. 

“Hmph, and what kind of things do you say about those girls?”

_ Crap _ , this was backfiring. The things he and his friends said weren’t compliments, to say the least. She had a point to make and lying wouldn’t help; she already knew the truth. “We’ll call them easy picking or joyrides.”

“What about when one of your friends takes a girl home? What do you say about a guy who just has a little fun for the night?” she asked, looking him directly in the eye.

_ Ahh, so that’s what she means by double standards _ . “We usually praise him on a job well done,” he answered, still being honest and open.

“Exactly. We are whores and easy and not wife material because we want to get some when we aren’t in a relationship. But men, they are only ever praised for it. Why is it not okay for us to do it too? We should be able to have our needs taken care of the same as you without being judged and looked down on for it!” 

“So you came up with using a henge to disguise yourself so that you could do the same thing everyone else does without the looks and the whispers.”

“Yeah, and that’s why I told Sakura she should try it. Except it wasn’t supposed to get serious with anyone. She wasn’t supposed to keep seeing the guy. It’s always been about sex with the guys I see, so when she told me that he had expressed an interest in her outside of sex, I encouraged her to pursue it,“ Ino admitted.

Ino continued. “She is being real with Sukea; everything about her personality is Sakura. It’s just the outside appearance that’s not her.” Ino didn’t think she needed to defend Sakura for what she’d done, but she didn’t want Genma to back out of helping her.

“Yeah, I believe that. I also think it’s true for Kakashi. That henge is making Kakashi less guarded; he is letting himself open up.” Genma told her.

He decided that had given him a good opening to tell Ino that part of the reason he’d invited her to be his date was so he could spend time with her. “You know, I didn….” He wasn’t able to finish his statement. 

“There they are,” Ino squealed, pointing out Sakura and Kakashi. They were walking on the other side of the street with Saki tucked up closely to Sukea’s side.

  
  


* * *

Kakashi made his way through the busy street with Saki pulled in close to his side. She looked stunning. When he had shown up outside of her apartment complex to pick her up, he was pleased to find her in an elegant kimono. He had hoped earlier on in their relationship that he would get the chance to see her like this one day, and he finally had. 

Taking a moment to look down at her, he noticed the blissful expression on her face. It was one of true happiness, the kind that she couldn’t have faked. She was genuinely happy to be there with him. He smiled to himself at his own thoughts. He was happy to be with her too.

They were walking through a section of the festival that had small boutiques stands. They were walking from stand to stand, looking at what each had to offer. They passed a stand that had fans and masks and stopped at one that had weapons.

As they walked through the stands, stopping at a few to look at the items they offered, Sakura noticed a jewelry stand just past one that sold kimonos. She recognized the elderly woman behind the stand as the same woman who had been running the stand in the market where she had seen that emerald pendant necklace a few weeks ago.

When they stopped in front of the stand, Sakura’s eyes immediately started searching for that necklace. 

Kakashi watched Saki’s eyes deliberately skim through the displays. She wasn’t really taking in any of them; it was more like she was searching for something in particular. She must have found the piece she had been looking for, because her eyes had suddenly stopped. Kakashi followed her line of sight to where her eyes were fixed. It was a necklace with a brilliant emerald pendant on it. 

“You like that one, huh?” he asked her.

“That’s a fine choice. It’s custom made, one of a kind. You won’t find another like it,” the old woman behind the stand explained.

“Would you like to try it on, young lady?” the woman asked, reaching to remove it from the display. 

“Oh, no. That’s alright, I was just looking,“ Sakura told her, shaking her head.

Kakashi gave her a curious look. He could tell that she more than liked it. So why would she not want it, or not even want to look at it better?

“Are you sure, Saki?” Sukea asked her.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

He didn’t want to push her so he let the matter drop. They thanked the woman and went off to look at other stands.

  
  


“We should go talk to them,” Ino told Genma, nudging him in the side.

“Oww. Woman, that hurt,” he told her, rubbing the sore spot on his ribs.

Grabbing him by the wrist, Ino snapped, “Come on.”

  
  
  


“Are you hungry?” Sukea asked her.

“A little. Do you think they have a dango stand?”

“Ah, of course. You are a dango addict, as you so simply put it.” He chuckled. 

“I am,“ She declared proudly. “I’m also  _ your  _ dango addict,” she said, stepping in closer.

“Hmm, yes you are.” He was leaning in to kiss her when a familiar voice shouted out his henge name.

Genma and a young blond woman were approaching them. 

Genma threw up a single hand in a small wave as he and Ino neared the other couple. “Hey there, friends.”

“Yo,” Sukea replied.

_ Yo? I’ve never heard him use that one before. It kind of reminds me of Kakashi-sensei.  _ She shut out that thought as quickly as possible.  _ No, Sukea is nothing like Kakashi-sensei, _ she thought to herself, moments before she recognized that the beautiful blond on Genma’s arm was her own best friend.

“Ino? What are you doing here?” Sakura blurted out before she could stop herself. She wanted to clamp a hand over her mouth or face palm. Something for such a stupid slip up.

“You two know each other?” Sukea asked her.

“Uhh, yeah. Well, no. Kind of,” Sakura stuttered. 

Ino was hoping to get Sakura a little rattled by showing up as herself with Genma. Sakura was going to need to be pushed hard to come out of the shell she was hiding in.

Sakura could tell by the smug smirk on Ino’s face that she was pleased to have caught her off guard. She also knew that look meant Ino was up to something. Well, if she wanted Sakura stirred up, then two could play that game.

“We met at the hospital a couple of months ago,” Saki explained. “I treated her; she had come in with this awful rash…” 

Ino gave Sakura a hard jab in the side with her elbow, laughing it off and throwing an arm around Sakura’s shoulders. “Aww, it’s okay, Saki. You don’t have to boost up your medical skills in front of us,” Ino told her in a playful voice. “It wasn’t anything like that,” Ino reassured them. She was going to get Sakura back for that one.

“Ehh, so what are you guys up to?” Genma asked Sukea.

“We were just about to go find a stand with some dangos,” Sakura chimed.

“Yeah, because that’s what you need,” Ino whispered.

“What did you say, Pig?” Sakura asked under her breath. 

With Kakashi’s superior hearing, he was able to make out the conversation between the two women.  _ Pig? As a nickname?  _ Kakashi was getting the feeling that the two women before him might know each other better than they were letting on.  _ But why not just be open about it, if so? _

“Hm.” Genma cleared his throat. “Do you mind if we join you guys? You know, since the ladies are getting along so well,” Genma asked.

Kakashi was fairly certain that Genma was up to something, and he had a feeling that it had something to do with his blonde companion. e couldn’t recall her name, but he was fairly certain that she was one of Asuma’s ex-students, and she seemed to know Saki better than she was letting on. He would need more time with the three of them to know exactly what was going on. “I don’t see why not.”

“Great, let’s go,” the blonde said. “I’m Ino by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Ino. I’m Sukea.”

  
  


* * *

After they had finished their dango, the two couples made their way to the entertainment section of the festival.

It was a wonderful sight. Rows of lanterns lined the streets, a parade was passing through, and there were performers scattered throughout putting on small shows of tricks. It was lively and exciting, something Kakashi had forgotten about outside of battle. He hadn’t been to any of these village functions in many many years, probably not since he was a teenager. 

While they were watching one of the many shows happening on the side lines, Kakashi caught sight of the jewelry stand with the necklace Saki liked so much once. He decided that he wanted to surprise her by buying it for her. Giving Genma a ‘be right back’ look, he slipped through the crowd and quickly made his way back to the small stand.

“Back again, I see. Am I to assume that you changed your mind about that necklace?” she asked.

Sukea nodded. “I have. I was actually planning for it to be a kind of surprise for my girlfriend,” he told her.

“I see. A bit of a romantic, are you?”

“Ahaha, not usually. But, she’s….”

“Special,” the woman finished for him.

“Yeah,” he admitted.

“I could tell the moment I laid eyes on the two of you,” she told him. “What a wonderful thing to be so deeply in love. It’s the purest of emotions.”

Kakashi simply nodded at the woman.

“I’ll gift wrap this for you, no extra charge,” she said as she took the necklace out of the display. “I had hoped to see that pink haired girl come back for this, but that was a few weeks ago so I don’t believe she will.” 

_ Pink?  _ “A pink haired girl, you say?” 

She nodded. “Yes, very pretty young woman with the most vibrant green eyes I have ever seen. They were almost the exact same color as the pendant; it would have looked nice on her. But, I think it suits your lady friend well too; she even looks at it the same way that the pink haired girl did.”

Kakashi could only look at the woman. What were the odds that she was talking about Sakura? How many pink-haired, green-eyed women were in this village? It was an unusual coincidence that she would also be interested in the same necklace as his Saki.

“Here you go, young man. Thank you for your business. Take care of that lovely woman of yours, you two have something special,” she told him.

He chuckled. “I will, thank you,” he said as he tucked the necklace securely in the chest pocket of his yukata. 

He would wait to give it to her late when they had more privacy. Until then, he would keep it safely tucked away.

Back over by Genma and the ladies, Sukea came up to stand beside Saki and wrapped one arm tightly around her. 

“Where did you go?” she asked him. 

“I just wanted to grab something really quick before they were all gone,” he told her.

“Oh, well I wouldn’t have minded going with you.” 

“I’ll remember that next time.”

“Hey you two,” Genma yelled from a few feet away. “The fireworks are about to start; we better get seats now if we want to see them.” 

Sukea looked at Saki. “We can’t miss the fireworks,” she told him.

He nodded as they began to follow Ino and Genma towards the large field sectioned off for people to lay out blankets to watch the show.

After a few minutes of searching, they found a spot big enough for the four of them. They laid out the blanket and all took a seat to wait for the show to start. 

They didn’t have to wait long. The first set of fireworks went off and lit up the sky in a wild display of colors. The next set went up into the sky and exploded with swirls of bright colors that gave glimpses of Hokage Mountain before they died off. Then the next set, then another and another.

Sakura looked over to Sukea only to see him already staring at her. “You’re going to miss the best part,” she told him.

“What are you talking about? I’ve got the best view in the village right now,” he told her, never letting his eyes leave her face to show that he was in fact talking about her.

She blushed deeply at the compliment. Something about the look in his eyes told her that he meant what he was saying. “Sukea.”

“Hmm?”

“Would you like to spend the night with me, at my place tonight?” she asked timidly. She had never let him in her house before, but she wanted to spend the night in her own bed with Sukea tonight. She had cleared out anything that would identify her as Sakura earlier that day and put it in a box in her closet just in case she went through with her thoughts.

She knew that she would have to stay awake the whole night so as not to lose her henge. She had a feeling they would be busy most of the night anyways. She was staring at him now because he still had not answered her.

Saki had never invited him in before; he had wondered why to the point it bothered him. But now here she was, extending an open invitation to spend the night at her house. He couldn’t let himself fall asleep of course, but that wouldn’t be a problem. Not with Saki.

He nodded, and his heart skipped a beat at the way her face lit up when he did. Her blue eyes sparkled, and her smile he swore was brighter than the fireworks.

Ino was eavesdropping, of course; she knew that if he went to Sakura’s house then there was a good chance that he would come across something that told him she was Sakura. Either that, or one of them was going to fall asleep and let their henge fall. Either way, she hoped that they didn’t freak out too much when it happened.

* * *

  
  


Once they were in front of the apartment building, Saki opened the gate and they made their way up the stairway to the second floor, yhen down the hallway to door number 12. 

“Well, this is it,” she declared. 

“Shall we go in?”

She grabbed her key and opened the door wide enough for them both to pass through. Once inside, she closed the door and locked it. 

Kakashi stepped inside and looked around the small apartment. It was lightly decorated and well-kept. He noticed two bookshelves in the corner of the living room. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that they were mostly advanced medical books. 

He took a closer look at the titles of the books,  _ Repairing Chakra Lines, Reconstructing Internal Organs, The  _ _ Gelsemium Plant. _ they were all advanced medical books.  Probably too advanced for someone who was just a nurse tending to paperwork and healing bruises.  _ Odd. _

“Can I get you anything?” Saki asked from behind him. 

A wide grin spread across his face. “Just you,” he replied simply before pulling her in for a deep kiss. With one hand cradling the back of her head, he moved his other hand to remove her obi. Once he had it untied, he let it drop to the floor and her kimono swung open freely. Bringing both hands down to grab her rear, he lifted her up to wrap her legs around his waist and carried her off to her bedroom.

Sakura had recently realized that somewhere along the way they had stopped having sex and had started making love. Sukea was a passionate man in bed; he poured over every inch of her body, almost as if he were worshiping it. She loved the attention she got from him, she loved the way he made her feel—not just physically but emotionally too. She loved how he could translate his affection for her into his touches. She loved spending time with him and their conversations. She loved him. 

Once they had finished and lay there in each other's arms, Kakashi remembered that he had something to give her. He sat up and made his way over to where his yukata lay on the floor.

Sakura noticed Sukea going for his clothes. “You don’t have to leave. I mean, if you want to stay. I was hoping you would stay,” she said timidly. 

He smiled at her. “I’m not leaving Saki,” he reassured her. “I have something for you,” he told her as he grabbed a small box out of the pocket. Making his way back to the bed, he sat down next to her and handed her the small box.

She took it and looked up at him.

“Open it,” he said. 

She untied the small red bow on the box and laid it beside her, grabbing the bottom with one hand and the top with the other. Slowly, she opened the box. When she saw what was inside, she gasped as her heart skipped several beats. She looked back up at Sukea in shock.

She definitely looked surprised. She didn’t exactly look _ happy,  _ though. Had he misread her reaction to the necklace? Did she not like it as much as he had thought? 

“Do you like it?” he asked her.

“Like it? I love it!” she demanded. “How could I not? It’s beautiful. I just…” she trailed off.

“Just what?” he asked.

“I just never thought that I would find someone who would do something like this for me,” she admitted.

He smiled. He felt a bit of pride being the first to do such a thing for her. “Well, now you do. So get used to it,” he told her as he grabbed the necklace to put it on her.

Once he had it on her, he sat back to take in the sight of her wearing it, he noticed that the emerald pendant was almost the exact same shade of green as her eyes. 

Looking down at the box, there was a small note inside the lid, _ “Love, the purest of emotions.” _

Sakura suddenly felt overwhelmed by all of her emotions. Before she could stop herself, she tackled Sukea and they fell back onto the bed. They spent the rest of the night there.


	10. Chapter 10

“I have a recon mission for you.” said Tsunade from behind her desk. “You can pick any partner you want as long as they aren’t already booked for a different mission.” she explained.

“Great. I want Sakura,” Genma told her without hesitation. He had a crazy idea with this fortunate event falling in his lap like this. He just hoped that he would be able to get it to work right.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at him, “Sakura, you say?” she asked.

“Yeah. Ino says that she hasn’t been out in the field in a while and since this is a simple no mess kind of mission I thought she might like the opportunity,” Genma explained, hoping that Tsunade took the bait.

Tsunade sat back in her chair and looked out the window towards the hospital. Sakura had not been on a mission in several months and had only been working at the hospital for regularly scheduled days. No shinobi should be off the mission roster for as long as Sakura had been at that point. 

But Tsunade also understood why Sakura didn’t want to take missions anymore; she had been that way since returning from the war. She didn’t want to bond with another team, didn’t want to watch anyone else die without a fighting chance. In a lot of ways, Sakura’s phobia reminded Tsunade of Kakashi after his first war and after losing his team. 

That thought only pulled her deeper into questions, _Why would two people who have experienced the same tragedy avoid each other like Sakura and Kakashi do, they understand each other better than anyone else could. So why did they never bother trying to bond after returning home?_ Tsunade thought to herself. She would need to look a bit deeper into that. 

Tsunade understood the strain that the loss of a teammate had on the surviving members of the team. She and Jiraiya had grown apart after their teammates' departure as well, never really mending that broken bond until it was too late. She hoped that Sakura and Kaashi weren’t going down the same path.

Genma’s cough reminded Tsunade that he was waiting for her answer. “Fine, you can take Sakura. But you better make sure to stay out of trouble.”

“Of course, Hokage-sama,” Genma reassured her. He wouldn’t need to worry about that; if things went the way he planned he wouldn’t be the one going on that mission at all. “When do we leave?” he asked.

“You leave tonight. Use the darkness to get to the lookout point undetected.” 

“You got it.”

* * *

  
  
  


Ino was putting together a flower arrangement for an order when Genma walked into the flower shop. 

“Hey, dollface.”

“Stop calling me that,” Ino fumed.

“Alright what should I call you then?” He asked.

“Ino, “ she told him. “That is my name, you know.”

“So it is, huh?” Now he was just teasing her.

Ino rolled her eyes, “Is there a reason you’re here, Genma?” she asked.

“As a matter of fact, I was hoping to get some flowers for a lovely lady. Do you think you could help me out?” he asked.

Ino would never admit that she was a little hurt to hear that Genma had a date with another woman. She knew she had no right to be hurt or upset, though. They weren’t dating or anything. _I guess that means his interest stops in the same place as every other guy’s, It is Genma, after all. What did you expect?_

“Sure, come on,” Ino said as she pulled out a vase and began dressing it with ribbon. “What kind of flowers does she like?”

“Ehh, I don’t really know. What do you suggest?”

“Ugh, well what colors does she like? We can start there instead,” Ino said, annoyed.

“I’m sure whatever you like will do just fine, doll-face.” Genma grinned.

“Okay, fine.” He had some nerve to flirt with her while she was putting flowers together for him to take to another woman.

“Great, while you do that I’ll tell you about the meeting I just had with Tsunade and what I plan to do with it.” 

“What!?” Ino asked, confused.

“See, I just got handed a scouting mission. Low profile, hideout is already set up, two person job, four to five days,” Genma told her. “I requested Sakura to be my partner on it.”

“Sakura? Why the hell would you request Sakura?” Ino asked. “These better not be for her. If so I swear, Genma…” she warned before she was silenced by Genma’s finger on her lips.

“Hold on, I’m not done yet. We don’t leave until late tonight. I’m about to go see if my old friend Kakashi is feeling up to a spar.” 

“I don’t get it? Why did you ask Sakura to go with you, and why are you going to go spar right before a mission?” Ino was seriously doubting his intelligence at that point. 

“Because I’m going to throw the fight. If I get hurt in a spar with Kakashi, I can’t go on the mission. If it’s last minute and he is there with me in Tsunade's office, and he’s the reason I can’t go….” 

“Then Tsunade is likely to send him to your place,” Ino finished.

“Exactly. That will put Sakura and Kakashi in a small hideout, just the two of them for a few days and no way out.”

“Genma, you're a genius,” Ino squealed, nearly knocking over the vase of flowers she had just finished for him.

“Of course, this all depends on my other plans working out though.”

“Wait, what? What other plans?” Ino asked.

Genma grabbed the flowers as his only response. 

“Are you kidding me? Are you really basing all this off how your sleazy date does?” Ino scowled at him.

“Yep.” Genma was pleased to see Ino showing a little bit of jealousy for him.“If you say yes to going to dinner with me tonight, then I’ll have no choice but to find a way out of this mission so we can go.” 

“Look, you a... “ Ino stopped mid sentence, _Is he talking about me?_

“So, what do you say? Want to have dinner with me tonight?” Genma asked her.

_Oh shit! He is talking about me!_ “Why?”

Genma exhaled. “Because believe it or not, I like you. I’ve been trying to break down this damn wall between us ever since that day at the park when I found that you were Niko. But you’re so damn stubborn and guarded that it’s been hell trying to get through to you. So, I thought maybe it would be better if I took a more direct approach,” he explained.

Ino was speechless, she was flattered, and she was more excited than she thought she would be at his confession. She nodded, still at a loss for words in her state of shock.

“Alright then, I’ll see you at 7 tonight” he told her before heading for the door. Only then did Ino realise that he was still carrying the flowers. 

“Hey, wait.” she shouted.

“What is it?”

Ino was a little embarrassed to point out such a thing, but if she was his date then those were her flowers right? “What about the flowers?” she asked shyly.

“Huh, oh. You don’t get these until I pick you up tonight. Besides, I need them for something else first.” He was out the door before she had a chance to argue.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


“Hey, Kakashi,” Genma greeted as he approached the silver-haired Jonin. 

“Yo,” Kakashi replied. He closed his book and tucked it back in his pouch before looking up at Genma. When he did, he noticed the vase of flowers he was carrying in one hand.

“What’s that about?” Kakashi asked him.

“Oh, this? Well, I pissed off Ino so I thought I would buy her some flowers to say sorry.” Genma said, just as he had rehearsed. 

“Is that so?’

“Yeah, we had a fight last night. She was going on about something… I don’t even remember what, to be honest. Anyways, I was looking for you because I wanted to know if you were in the mood for a spar? Before I go make up with Ino, I thought I should blow off some steam first, you know?”

Kakashi was not a stupid man, Genma’s story was fine on the surface. But Kakashi knew that something about this wasn’t adding up, just like at the festival. Once again though, he would only figure it out by playing along. 

“Sure, why not. I've got time.”

* * *

  
  
  


Sakura was walking home from the hospital after being released early due to a last minute mission when a familiar voice called out her name. Turning around towards the voice, she immediately came face to face with none other than her ex, Kiba.

She threw on a fake smile. “Hello, Kiba,” Sakura greeted.

“Hey, I hear you’re heading off on a mission later.”

She simply nodded.

“How long is it? The mission, I mean,” he asked, clearly tiptoeing around the real reason he had gotten her attention.

She frowned. “It should take about five days,” she answered shortly.

“Nice. So you’ll be home just in time for the weekend then.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Sakura had an idea about where Kiba was going with this.

“I was thinking. When you get back, let’s hang out. You know, just you and me. What do you say?” he asked with a knowing smirk that had Sakura resisting the urge to smack it right off his face.

But instead, she would just make her point with words. “No thanks, Kiba. I already have plans,” she told him with a smirk of her own.

“Come on, you can reschedule with Ino,” he argued.

That hit a sore spot with Sakura. But she wouldn’t lose her composure; she was determined to not let Kiba get to her. “For your information, I will be spending the weekend with my boyfriend. Which is how I usually spend my weekends for the past couple of months.” she explained, before turning on her heel and walking away with her victory.

Kiba stood there in the middle of the street taking in what Sakura had just said. It had taken him a couple of months to realize that he had made a big mistake breaking up with Sakura. Choji had told him right after it had happened that he would end up regretting it, that Sakura was a good catch and that Kiba was simply not appreciating her. 

Shikamaru had tried to warn him that there were plenty of guys out there that would want a shot with Sakura and that it wouldn’t take her too long to find one who did appreciate her. _I guess they were right._

* * *

  
  
  


Kakashi stood in Tsunade’s office with a limp Genma at his side, only being held up by one arm draped over Kakashi’s shoulders. 

“Tell me again how exactly this happened,” she snapped.

“Well, you see Lady Tsunade.” Kakashi began, “Genma had asked to spar, and he said no holding back so…” 

“So you shattered his shoulder?!” she screamed. “He has a mission that’s supposed to start in a couple of hours. How did you even manage this, Kakashi?” 

“In my defense, I feel like the attack was dodgeable,” Kakashi justified. It wasn’t; Kakashi’s speed was above most others in the village. Genma didn’t have a chance in hell of avoiding it.

One of Tsunade’s eyebrows twitched in annoyance, “Take him to the hospital and go home. Be at the front gate at 7:00 pm tonight,” she said, waving her hand around.

“At the front gate at 7?” Kakashi asked, confused.

“Yes!” she started, “Because you made Genma unable to take this mission, you will be the one taking his place.” 

The look on Tsunade’s face told Kakashi that this was not negotiable and there was no way he was getting out of this mission. He just hoped that his partner on this mission could pull their own weight in the field. 

He didn’t want this mission to drag on longer than five days; he wanted to be back in time to spend his weekend with Saki as usual.

“Understood,” he sighed before leaving with Genma.

* * *

  
  


Sakura’s alarm went off at 6:00 pm. She only had an hour until she had to be at the front gate to meet her partner for their mission. She threw the blankets off of her and headed for the bathroom for a quick shower. It would likely be a couple of days before she would be able to have a proper one.

As she quickly washed herself, she went through a mental checklist of the things she needed to do before she left the house. She had already done most of it before she had laid down for her nap; she had cleaned out the fridge, watered her plants, washed a load of laundry, and packed her travel bag.

Stepping out of the shower and quickly dressing herself, she did one final check around the house before grabbing her travel bag and heading out the door.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Kakashi was already standing by the front gate. He had shown up twenty minutes early to the meeting point. He wanted to make good time on this mission so that he would be back in time to see Saki; he had never known until then just how irritating it could be to wait for someone.

“Kakashi-sensei,” came a soft voice behind him. “What are you doing here?’ Sakura asked.

“I’m waiting for my mission partner. We’re supposed to meet here at 7:00,” he answered. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m supposed to be meeting Genma for a mission. We were also supposed to meet here at 7:00,” she told him while looking around. “Have you seen him, by chance?”

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose, not believing his bad luck. Of all the shinobi in this village for Genma to have as a mission partner, it had to be Sakura. 

_Seriously, what are the odds?_ _There is nobody else in this village who hates me more than this pink haired girl_. _Perfect. This mission couldn’t get any more complicated._

Kakashi let out a frustrated sigh before informing her that he was filling in for Genma

Sakura could tell that Kakashi wasn’t happy about the arrangements. She tried to lighten the mood with a joke. “I never thought that I would see the day that you showed up to a meeting on time, Kakashi-sensei. You were always late to everything when you were the leader of Team Kakashi.” She let out a small laugh. 

Great, she was going to point out his shortcomings the whole time. “Some things are worth changing for,” he said shortly. “Let’s get going; I need to get this mission over with as soon as possible.”

Sakura frowned at him. He wasn’t even trying to hide how displeased he was to be stuck with her. Her patience was wearing thin with him. 

She could understand it if he just didn’t like her or blamed her for Sasuke’s death, but he could at least act professional when they were on missions together. They were both shinobi and active; they were naturally going to run into each other occasionally. 

Sakura was torn between giving him space and trying to force some kind of deep life altering conversation between the two of them. Ultimately, she decided to meet in between and take this opportunity to be a little more casual and familiar with Kakashi. 

But for now, she would leave it be. She could take the trip to the hideout to think about how she would go about breaking the ice between them. “Right, let’s get going,” she said with a forced cheerfulness in her voice.

Kakashi internally cringed. He could tell she was faking the cheerfulness; she obviously wasn’t happy about being on this mission with him. She was just trying to be polite. _Oh well, all I can do is keep my distance the best that I can,_ he told himself before they took off into the trees. 

* * *

  
  
  


Genma showed up at Ino’s front door right on time. He was well dressed in dark blue jeans and a button down shirt. He had the vase of flowers in one arm, but the other was in a sling. 

“Genma, what happened to your arm?” Ino asked him, concern clear on her face. 

“That's just how I managed to get out of my mission. It looks worse than it feels, promise,” he answered.

Ino felt a little guilty that Genma had gotten himself hurt for their date and to help her with Sakura and Kakashi. She knew he had been going to spar with Kakashi, but she didn’t think that he was going to sustain such an injury from it. 

Once he was inside, she closed the door behind him and grabbed the flower vase from him, walking over to place them on the kitchen table.

“Nice place you have here,” Genma told her as he looked around the small living room. 

“Yeah, it fits my needs. Small and cozy.” She smiled at him. “Genma.”

He turned to face her.

“Why don’t we hang out here tonight?” she suggested. 

“Is there something wrong?” he asked, a little worried that she was getting cold feet.

“No, nothing like that. I’d just like for it to be just the two of us tonight. We can have dinner delivered and stay in. Plus, I do feel bad about your arm. You already hurt yourself because of me. I don’t want you to go and strain yourself because of me too.”

Genma thought about what she said for a moment before replying, “So, you just want to stay in tonight then?” he asked.

She nodded. “If that’s alright with you.”

Well, his arm did hurt quite a bit at the moment, and it would be difficult to keep up with her while out and about with his arm in the damn sling. “Yeah, alright. But under one condition.”

“You and your conditions.“ Ino rolled her eyes “What is it this time?”

“You have to be my nurse while I’m here. Since you feel bad about my arm and all.” He smirked.

“Sure thing,” she said before she brushed past him, bumping his shoulder lightly with her own as she did so. 

She was definitely a handful, but one that Genma thought was worth holding onto. She picked up the phone and a stack of take out menus. “What are we eating?”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, thanks so much for all your support. You guy's are awesome, please continue to leave your comments, they really help. Here is chapter 11, enjoy.

Sakura and Kakashi traveled quickly through the trees, making their way to the hideout that had already been set up for them. They would slow speed occasionally then pick back up to top speed shortly after, never stopping for a break until they were about two miles out from their destination.

When Kakashi jumped down out of the trees and came to a stop in a small clearing, Sakura followed suit. She knew that they must be close given the distance they had covered already and the approximate distance to their destination.

"We are not supposed to give away that we are shinobi unless absolutely necessary; we are supposed to be civilians renting the small cabin a couple miles up ahead. We'll stop here to change out of our Leaf Uniforms and into our civilian clothes before showing up at the cabin," Kakashi explained.

He glanced up at Sakura to make sure she was paying attention; she nodded to show that she understood. Un-shouldering her travel pack, she ducked behind a large tree to change. Kakashi took the opportunity to strip out of his pants and overshirt, quickly throwing on a pair of dark jeans and plain black long sleeve shirt.

Moments later Sakura emerged from behind her tree also dressed in her civilian clothing. She had on a pair of tight black pants that showed off her lean legs and a fitted red top. Above the collar of her shirt, Kakashi could see the thin chain of a necklace around her neck. He couldn't see the pendant, though, since it was tucked underneath the shirt she was wearing.

"Do you think that shirt was really the best choice for this mission?" he asked as she approached him.

She frowned. "Yeah, why not? What's wrong with my shirt?"

He would need to be careful with his words; Sakura was clearly offended by his question. "It's just that, it stands out. We are supposed to be fitting in with the crowd, not standing out," he explained, hoping that it would defuse her a bit.

"Most civilians do wear things like this Kakashi-sensei. It's also December now, the month of Christmas. Most people will be wearing red or green to show their Christmas spirit," she told him, a smile growing on her face. She was obviously fond of this holiday. "Besides, red is my favorite color."

"Is that so." The detail made Kakashi think of Saki—her favorite color was red as well. A small smile came to his face at the thought of his beloved Saki.

"Yep," _Why is he making that face?_ Kakashi had an unusual expression on his face, one that Sakura had never seen from him before. It looked like content.

 _Was Kakashi-sensei happy?_ Sakura frowned. _What did he have to make him smile like that?_

"Uh, Kakashi-sensei, we should get going," she called out to him, breaking him from his thoughts.

"Right. Let's go. We need to travel a normal pace on foot from here on out. "

She nodded and they were off.

* * *

When they reached the small cabin that was to be their stakeout point for the next few days, Sakura realized that 'small' was an understatement. It was nothing more than a single room with a couple of old chairs and a small area for their bedrolls.

"There is an outhouse in the back, there is not a kitchen so we will have to go into town a few times to get food." Kakashi pointed out even though it was obvious.

"It's a good thing we didn't bring much." Sakura mumbled to herself.

"Hmm?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking out loud." she told him.

"Well, we should get our equipment and bedding set up. Then we can go into town and get some food." Kakashi said.

Sakura nodded, setting her travel pack down on the floor she began unpacking her mission equipment. Once done she then rolled out her bedroll in the small area provided. Kakashi had already finished. It never failed to amaze her how fast he was when he wanted to be.

"All done?" he asked.

"Yeah," she responded.

"Alright, let's go get some food and go over the details of what exactly we are supposed to be doing here."

* * *

It was only about a fifteen minute walk into town. The town was pretty much all businesses, there were no apartments or houses in sight. Just factories, warehouses, and restaurants. They quickly came upon a small building that simply had a window with a cashier in the front.

Walking up to the window, they both did a quick scan of the menu behind the woman at the register.

"Do you see anything you like?" the woman asked in a sultry voice. She was only speaking to Kakashi—she hadn't taken her eyes off him since they approached the window.

Kakashi was oblivious to the woman's innuendo. "Do you serve Miso soup?" he asked her.

"No, but I could make you some myself if you would like?" She practically purred the offer to him. Kakashi finally met the woman's eyes and instantly recognized the look she was giving him.

He tried to defuse the situation with as little of a scene as possible. "No thank you. What do you have that isn't fried?"

"Tsukune, but I think mine is better," she suggested, still batting her eyelashes at him.

She obviously wasn't used to being turned down. Kakashi decided that something a little more blunt would need to be done to get the point across. "Ah, my favorite is when my girlfriend makes it for me." Hopefully the mention of Saki was enough to make his point.

Sakura was still looking up at the menu when she overheard the exchange of words between Kakashi and the woman. When she looked down from the menu to the woman taking her order, she noticed the woman behind the window staring at her. Her expression quickly turned into a nasty look. _Jealous much?_

"Sakura, have you decided what you want?" Kakashi asked her.

Sakura realized that Kakashi was trying to recruit her help in deterring the flirtatious woman. She decided it would be a good opportunity to play with Kakashi a little and have some fun. She smiled sweetly at him and stepped up to his side, wrapping her arms around one of his. "Oh, anything is fine. As long as it isn't spicy. I'll just get whatever you're getting, dear."

"Ehh, haha, Two Tsukune, please," he told the cashier.

"Hmph, it will take about ten minutes. You can wait over there," she told them, pointing at a nearby bench.

Once she had disappeared into the back towards the kitchen, Kakashi instantly felt the discomfort between him and Sakura. He immediately began pulling away from her as fast as he could without making it seem too obvious.

Sakura thought that it was a funny joke until Kakashi started trying to pry himself away from her like she had an infectious disease. She instantly started to regret her actions and now felt rather silly. She hadn't expected him to react that way,; he was the one who started it, after all.

She began to think that maybe she had taken it too far, or that she may have just misread the situation. She felt a little hurt, and a little guilty as well for putting him in an awkward position. She started to try to think of how to apologize for her behavior when Kakashi beat her to it.

Kakashi thought that his hint about having a girlfriend would be enough to deter the flirtatious woman; he had not expected Sakura to play along the way that she did. He couldn't help tensing up when she had wrapped her arms around him the same way that Saki liked to.

To make matters worse, he didn't have a good relationship with Sakura. They weren't close enough to do things like that without it being awkward for them both.

"Sakura," he started. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to get pulled into that."

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have thrown myself at you like that." Sakura realized that Sukea would be hurt if he knew what she'd done. It didn't help that Kakashi was someone who barely tolerated her. "I didn't think about how it would make you feel if I pushed things the way I did.

"I know you like your personal space; I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, what if you actually do have a girlfriend or something?" She was rambling now. "I didn't think about how uncomfortable that would make you."

Kakashi did have a girlfriend, and he was uncomfortable. But he had started it; she didn't need to beat herself up about it anymore. It was an innocent mistake. "It's fine, Sakura. I started it with that comment. I didn't mean for things to happen like that. Let's just forget about it, okay?"

It hit Sakura then that he hadn't been pretending that she was his girlfriend at all. The way he shrugged the woman off, telling her he had a girlfriend, his discomfort when she wrapped her arms around him… "You actually do have a girlfriend, don't you, Kakashi-sensei?"

He nodded. "I do; she is waiting for me back in Konoha."

Sakura was a little surprised. She had never seen Kakashi show interest in anyone romantically and had definitely never heard of him being in a relationship. _She must be some woman to have kind of a hold on Kakashi._

Sakura knew that most women found Kakashi attractive and alluring. She herself could see that Kakashi was indeed an attractive man, though she had never thought of Kakashi in a romantic way or as a potential partner.

Maybe it was because she was blinded by Sasuke for so long. Or because she was young when she met him; they were on completely different levels back then. Now that they were both equals, with her being an adult and seasoned war veteran, it was a little easier to see Kakashi as a man.

"Order up!" the woman behind the window called out to them.

"That's us," Kakashi declared. Walking over to the window, he paid the woman and grabbed their bag of food.

They made their way back to the small cabin in silence, both a little uncomfortable about the earlier events. They reached the cabin and went about eating their food in continued silence. Once finished, Kakashi knew they had to discuss the mission before going to sleep, though he wanted to keep things as professional as possible with Sakura.

"Did you see that building down there, the one just on the edge of town?" Kakashi asked her.

"The one with the red roof?" she asked.

He nodded. "That's the one we are watching. It's a medical herb laboratory, but there are rumors that they aren't just making healing herbs in there. Apparently they have some late night activities going on as well. Our job is to watch the facility and find out if there are any after-hours activities and if so, what it is that they are doing," he explained.

"Simple enough. What do we do when we find out?" she asked.

"We are to gather information, then report back to Tsunade with any findings. We are not to engage in any way, and we are not to disclose that we are shinobi unless absolutely necessary. Do you understand?" he asked in his commanding voice.

Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes; she wasn't a child. He didn't need to use the same tone he did when she was a Genin. "Yeah, I get it. I'm not a child anymore, Kakashi-sensei."

"Good. We will have to sleep during the day, and we will swap out taking breaks watching throughout the nights. The sun is coming up now so we should get to bed." He knew she wasn't a Genin anymore, but she hadn't spent much time in the field since the war. He just wanted the mission to go smoothly.

"Yes, Sensei," she said. She knew how to adapt to a strange sleep schedule while in the field; He didn't have to send her to bed like a child. _Hopefully he isn't like this the entire mission, or it was going to be a long few days._

_Hopefully she isn't too rusty from being held up in the village all this time. Hopefully I don't have to baby her the entire mission, either. I need to be back in the village by Friday night._ He didn't want to leave Saki without any word or reason; she would surely wonder where he was if he didn't show up.

* * *

When they woke up the next day it was about 2:00 pm. The lab closed at 5:00, so they wanted to be up for a couple of hours before then to eat and wake up fully before the factory closed and their stakeout began.

Sakura and Kakashi were walking through town to get food and water for the night. It was a general rule that when on a two man mission like this, you weren't to leave your partner unless it was unavoidable and never for a long period of time.

They had filled both of their water jugs and one spare jug, purchased some non perishable snack foods, and now they were looking for somewhere to grab dinner before heading back. Neither wanted to go to the same place that they had the night before, so they were searching for something quick and easy to grab before heading back to the cabin.

Neither had said a word to the other that didn't pertain to the mission; neither knew what to say and both were walking on eggshells around the other. Kakashi was determined to keep his distance from Sakura for the remainder of the mission. He just wanted to finish this mission and get back home without any more issues with his partner.

Sakura, on the other hand, was determined to make use of having Kakashi stuck with her. She wanted to use this opportunity to bridge things between her and her former team leader. They had been through so much together; they knew each other's pain better than anyone else.

She knew he had never been fond of her, but she was sure that something happened in the war that was making him push her away as hard as he was. She just hoped that she could get him to open up and talk to her about it while they were out there. If they went back home, he would go back to avoiding her and would make sure he was never put on another mission with her again.

She had to get this straightened out while on this mission. It was her only chance.

"So tell me about your girlfriend, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, interrupting the uneasy silence between them.

Kakashi was a little caught off guard by her sudden question. _Why the hell does she want to hear about Saki?_

"Is she the one you were making those googly eyes about yesterday?" she teased.

"I do not make googly eyes," he insisted.

"Well, whatever face you want to call it, were you thinking about her?"

Kakashi never liked talking about his personal life, especially not with teammates while on missions. Not to mention that he couldn't just tell anyone about Saki because she didn't know him as Kakashi. To Saki, he was Sukea.

Then there was the little fact that she worked at the hospital and knew Ino. The chances of her meeting and or knowing Sakura were very high. Sakura was second in command of the hospital, answering only to Tsunade herself. It would be incredibly odd for someone to not know her if they worked at the hospital.

He would just have to dodge her curiosity like he normally did, then continue to avoid her the best that he could until this mission was over.

"Ah, this looks like a good place," he declared as he stopped in front of a small food truck.

He was avoiding her question. She had been trying to make conversation and he dodged her attempts and just carried on. She thought that the topic of his relationship was something that they could make pleasant smalltalk about. She could even tell him about Sukea, but, as usual, he was ignoring her.

"Yeah, sure. Let's eat here," she said rather unenthusiastically.

Great, now she was sulking. Honestly, could he do just one thing right when it came to Sakura? The mission was only meant to be about four days long, but Kakashi was starting to feel like it was going to feel a lot longer than that.

* * *

Kakashi and Sakura made it back to their small cabin, finished their dinner, and began discussing the shift schedules for keeping watch on the lab. They would do four hour shifts; Kakashi would take the first shift and then Sakura next, then Kakashi would pick up again after her shift. It was now 4:45 p.m., and all the employees should have been getting ready to head home.

Kakashi pulled his chair up to the empty spot in front of the small window. Sitting his water jug on the floor by his feet, he settled in for his first shift. Sakura had thought that she would be able to talk to him without him being able to run away or change the subject. She was wrong about that, apparently.

"What do you think it is they are doing in there? I mean, there are only two things you can do in an herbal lab. You can either make medicine, or you can make poisons. They are supposed to be making medicine, so I doubt that they would be sneaking into the lab in the middle of the night to do that. So I'm thinking it must be poison," Sakura said, hoping he would actually participate in the conversation if it was mission related.

"Is that so?" he asked. "How do you know so much about herbal labs to come up with that theory?"

"I've been studying plants and herbs for a few years now, Kakashi-sensei," she said, a little down. "It's part of my medical training to know about healing plants and poisons. Tsunade has even put me on a very important project analyzing a rare plant and its properties."

Sakura was very proud of herself for her achievements in the medical field, and justifiably so. She had worked really hard to get to where she was, and a small part of her wanted Kakashi-sensei's approval of her growth. She had always admired him as a shinobi, and he had been her first teacher outside of the academy.

Kakashi blinked in surprise. "Huh, really? Aren't you a little… I don't know, young, for something like that?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura asked defensively. Really, did he have to doubt her every ability?

He hadn't meant it as an insult, but she was definitely taking it as one. "I just thought that something like that went to someone with a little more experience, like Shizune," he tried to explain.

Of course he would compare her to the only medic that has served under Tsunade longer than her. Sakura had more than surpassed Shizune during the war.

"I do have experience; I was in the war with you remember? I'm second in command at the hospital; the only one above me is Tsunade herself, who is currently training me to become head of the hospital when she retires next year," she seethed at him.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know," he told her. He really hadn't known about any of that. _That's likely due to the fact that you have avoided her since the war._ He told himself. Now she was upset with him again. He just couldn't say anything to her without somehow causing problems. He really needed to get this mission over with before he continued to make things worse.

"Of course you didn't; how could you when you don't even try?" she mumbled to herself.

"What?" She had said something, but Kakashi had missed it.

"Nothing, forget it." This whole thing was not going the way she had wanted to, not at all.

* * *

"Alright, talk to me. What's going on in that pretty little head of yours," Genma said to a spaced out Ino. She had been distracted all night, and even spaced out several times in the middle of a conversation.

They were laying on the couch at Genma's house talking casually when Ino had got that thoughtful look on her face again.

"Sorry, Genma. I was just thinking."

"Yeah, I know. I'm asking what you were thinking about so hard."

Ino sighed. "I can't stop thinking about Kakashi and Sakura. They never had a great bond before the war, and they've hardly acknowledged each other's existence since the war ended. I mean Kakashi always looked out for Sakura when she was on his team and during the war, so I know he does care about her. He just…"

"Never let her in?" Genma finished for her.

"Yeah."

"He's like that with everyone. He has a painful past; it's hard for him to let people get close to him."

"What happened?" she asked.

"It's not my place to tell that story."

She frowned at him.

"But what I can tell you is that he did look out for Sakura because he cares about her well being, and he does love Saki. Who is also Sakura, which is why I'm on board with all this. She has gotten to him with that henge in a way that nobody else ever has. He let her in deeper than he ever did anyone else. That says something for a man like Kakashi."

Ino didn't look fully convinced.

"Look, Kakashi doesn't show that he cares for people the way that we do. He doesn't go to birthday parties or send gifts. He shows it by being there when it counts. When Sasuke and Naruto had it out in the war, Kakashi went for Sakura. Out of the three of them, he could only pick one, and he picked her."

"So you think that Sakura and Kakashi had a deeper bond than they realized even back then?" Ino asked.

Genma nodded. "Looking at his feelings for Saki; he probably would have fallen in love with Sakura if he ever would have given himself the chance. Now I'm not saying he was in love with Sakura back then or anything; I'm just saying that he only would have done that for someone special to him."

"I guess that makes sense," Ino said. "They never would have thought about each other that way if they weren't using the henges have given them the ability to see each other without their history. "

"Right. Looking at each other with another's face on lets them get to know each other for who they are on the inside, something they never would have allowed themselves to do in their real bodies," Genma explained further.

"So, they really do have a chance then. huh?"

Genma nodded. "If they don't freak out too badly when they find out who each other really are."

"I wonder how their mission is going?"

"Well, they won't solve anything by avoiding each other. That's the whole point of getting them put on this mission together. As long as they are willing to talk, everything should be fine." Genma tells her.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to all my readers, you guy's are awesome. Please continue to read and review.   
> I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.

Sakura was sitting in front of the small window of the cabin waiting. It was her shift for watching the lab. It was now day three of their mission. The first two days she and Kakashi were able to confirm that there were in fact people coming in after hours using the lab, but the second half of their mission they had yet to complete: figuring out what it was that those people were doing in there. 

She glanced over at Kakashi who was sitting in the other chair with his nose buried in his usual orange book. After their little disagreement the first night, Sakura had tried again the next night to find common ground with him. As usual, he dodged or ignored every attempt that she made. She was running out of ideas and growing frustrated.

Kakashi was running through plans for how they could find out what was being made in that lab without giving themselves away. Tomorrow was supposed to be the last day of their mission. If they wanted any chance of ending it on time, he would need to come up with something to get them inside that building.

He was hiding behind his book as he brainstormed, trying his best to look too preoccupied to be disturbed. Despite his best efforts to avoid unnecessary contact with Sakura, it kept happening. Each time she initiated a conversation, he did his best to keep his distance. He didn’t want to mess anything up any further with Sakura; he felt that he had already done enough of that.

He had just decided the best and only course of action here would be to sneak into the lab before the intruders came in to do their work after closing. That way they would be able to get set up somewhere inside, and then they could see exactly what it is that they were doing.

Then he felt her glare on him again. She seemed to be doing that a lot on this mission. Looking up to catch her gaze, he asked, “Did something happen?”

Sakura, lost in her thought, hadn’t realized that she was staring at him. Now he was looking back at her expectantly. _ Great, I bet he thinks I’m a weirdo now. _

“No, I was just thinking. We need to figure out a way to get inside; we aren’t getting anywhere sitting out here like this.” She sighed. 

“I know. I’m already working on it,” he told her.

“Does that mean we don’t have to keep watch anymore?” she asked hopefully. It was incredibly boring. Nothing had happened the whole three days they had been there.

“No, we should still keep watch. You never know; we could still see something useful tonight.”

Sakura groaned and went back to her duties. Kakashi went back to planning the heist that would hopefully end this mission.

* * *

  
  


Kakashi was irritated and grumpy. Everything about their mission was a disaster so far. It was their last day and last chance to complete this mission without an extension. They had only managed to complete half of their objective—confirming that people were sneaking into the lab after hours. The other half; figuring out why they were there in the first place, had to be done tonight. There was no room for mistakes tonight.

On a personal level, he was irritated at life's sense of humor for putting him on this mission with Sakura. She seemed to hate him more every day that passed and yet for some reason continued to seek him out several times a day.  _ Maybe she is just bored,  _ he thought. It couldn’t be because she enjoyed his company. They hadn’t had a pleasant interaction with each other since this mission began.

_ I can’t wait to be back home. I’m not leaving my house for a week. _

It was mid-day and they were walking through town to get some food before getting ready to sneak into the lab. Sakura had failed each of her attempts to connect with Kakashi so far and the frustration was showing. She would even catch herself glaring at the man from time to time, lost in her frustration at his stubbornness.

If all went well, the mission would end tonight and her chance to mend things with Kakashi would be gone. She seemed to have only made things worse with her efforts, but she had to try one last time. He was the only member of their original team she had left.

“Do you know of anywhere that has dangos? I would die for some dangos right now. They are my favorite,” Sakura said cheerfully.

Kakashi really, really didn’t want to get into it with Sakura again right before the most crucial part of their mission. He had to end all this banter now, “You should be focused on what we have to do tonight to complete this mission and not focused on dangos. If you like them so much, there is a place by the weapons shop that has them back home in Konoha… Where I would like to be back tomorrow.”

He was a little harsher with her than he had intended to be. He was tired and frustrated at everything to do with their mission and just wanted it to end. He wanted to go back to occasionally bumping into Sakura at the bar or Tsunade’s office and getting away without a fight. This mission had made things between them five times worse than they had been before. 

He just wanted things to go back to normal.

Sakura frowned at him, a single tear rolling down her face. 

Guilt instantly ripped through Kakashi; he hadn't meant to hurt her like that. He had never meant to hurt her, but every time he was near her she got hurt in some way. It was why he kept pushing her away, but she just kept pushing back. He was the reason that she was all alone after the war; he had failed to save Sasuke’s soul. Naruto had been the one who finally stepped in, and now even he was off living in the sorrows of his failure. 

“Sakura, I’m sor..” he started.

Sakura put her hand up to stop him. She didn’t want to hear it; she couldn’t. Understanding finally sunk in; he wasn’t ever going to budge. He had no intention of ever being close to her. She decided then that she was done trying to mend her broken relationship with Kakashi. 

She was done trying to be friends, done trying to bond, done trying to understand him, and - more than anything - done getting hurt. Kakashi had made his feelings perfectly clear: he wanted  _ nothing  _ to do with her. Sakura was officially done with Kakashi Hatake!

Kakashi fell silent. He had just snapped at her, so of course she didn’t want to talk now. It wasn’t the first time that he had made a mess out of things between them. He would have to make a point on the way back home to apologize properly and explain his behavior. For now, they needed to get the mission over with. He nodded, and they continued on preparing in silence.

  
  


* * *

At 4:45, they were watching the lab, waiting for all of the employees to leave so that they could sneak in before any enemies arrived. At exactly 5:05, the back doors opened up and the twenty or so employees who worked in the lab came walking out. Kakashi and Sakura waited for the last of them to fade out of sight before coming out of their hiding place and entering the building through an open window used for ventilation.

Once Kakashi and Sakura were inside, they began looking around for clues as to what the intruding workers could be up to. Sakura found plenty of plants and herbs—there was a variety of things, both good and bad, that could be made with what she had found.

“Did you find anything definitive?” Kakashi whispered.

“No, there are too many possibilities with all of these,” she said, gesturing at the plants and herbs laid out before her.

“Hmm. We may have to hide out in here for the night to see for ourselves,” Kakashi said, looking around. 

“But that’s not an ideal option. It gives us a greater risk of being caught,” Sakura pointed out.

“Indeed it does. So let’s hurry and try to find what we are looking for so it doesn't come to that.”

“Alright,” The intruding workers usually showed up at about 6:00. That meant they had about forty five minutes to find what they were looking for and get out unseen.

Kakashi headed up to the office above the lab to see if he could find any helpful information. After searching through the files for about twenty minutes, he found something strange. The clerk kept a separate log book. Flipping through it, he found a large number of orders that were for something he didn’t recognize.  _ But maybe Sakura knows _ , he thought. Stuffing the book in his pouch, he headed back downstairs to find her.

Sakura had been looking through the stock of orders that had been filled and were waiting to be shipped out. She hadn’t found anything out of the ordinary until she came across a section that said  _ Private Orders _ . Why would they need a private order section? 

Thinking that this was strange and perhaps what they were looking for, Sakura started searching through the orders. Taking a closer look, she noticed that every vial contained the same substance. She had never seen that particular combination of ingredients used together like that before, but with her vast medical knowledge she knew that mixing them together wouldn’t do anything good.

“Sakura,” she heard Kakashi call out in a hushed voice. 

She made her way back to the center of the room where Kakashi stood. “I’m right here.” she answered back.

“I found this in the office; it’s an order log that’s separate from the main one,” he told her, handing her the book. “I think the people running this lab are in on whatever is going on.”

Sakura flipped through the book. It was filled with orders for the same compound that she had found in the private section. “Kakashi, I think you’re right, I found the storage area for these orders. They are kept separate from the rest in a section labeled private orders.”

“Do you know what this stuff is?” he asked her.

“Not entirely. There are five different ingredients in this. I know what each of them are and what they do. However, I have never known of them to be used all together like this. But I do know that it isn’t medicine. Some of these things we even have rules at the hospital to make sure we don’t ever combine them on accident because they would be harmful,” Sakura explained.

“Alright, I think that’s all we need to know, then. Let’s get out of here before...”

He was cut off by the sound of the back door opening. They both looked at the clock on the wall. Shit, they were early today. “This way.” He grabbed Sakura by the arm and pulled her into a nearby closet. Looking around inside, he could see through the dark that it was the closet they kept the lab coats in. Which means someone would be opening this closet soon. “Damn it.”

“Umm, Kakashi?” Sakura whispered.

“Hmm.”

“Do you think you could move your hand?”

“What?”

“It’s just that, well, it's kind of on my…”

Taking notice of their physical position, she didn’t have to finish her statement to know where his hand had accidentally landed. “Shit, sorry.”

Great. As if things with Sakura weren’t complicated enough, now they were hiding in a closet like a couple of teenagers and he was unintentionally groping her. Oh and their mission was probably compromised as well.  _ Think, Hatake! _

As often as he was praised for being such a genius, he couldn’t think of any way out of this situation other than fighting their way out. Someone was going to open that closet door any minute, and their cover would be blown. They would have to fight off the enemies enough to escape and do it without giving away that they were from the Leaf.

“We will have to fight our way out. I’ll take the first hit at whoever opens the door. I can hit them with my chakra-enhanced strength; he’ll never see it coming,” Sakura said.

It had been a long time since Sakura had been in combat. She had been amazing in battle during the war, but that was years ago, but he wasn’t sure if she had kept up with training outside of the hospital. “Are you sure you are up for this, Sakura?” Kakashi asked her.

He still thought she was useless. “Let’s just get this over with,  _ Sensei. _ ” She would show him.

Kakashi didn’t miss the anger and sarcasm in her voice. Now wasn’t the time, though; they needed to get out of there.

Footsteps were approaching the closet. The closet was soon filled with a soft green glow from Sakura channeling her chakra to fist. Kakashi took up a stance, preparing to charge out as soon as she took out the first guy. 

The door opened, and Sakura’s chakra filled fist went flying into the man's chest. “CHA!”

Kakashi launched out of the closet and made contact with the next man before the first even stopped rolling. As he steady himself on his feet again, eight more men closed in around him. He couldn’t see Sakura anymore and could only assume that she had just about as many enemies on her as he did. This wasn’t good. These men weren’t just herbalists or medics; they were shinobi as well.

An enemy on his left suddenly lunged forward, weapon in hand. Kakashi side-stepped him to avoid the strike. Grabbing his attacker by the arm, he used the man’s own momentum against him and threw him into two of his comrades. A sharp pain ran through Kakashi's leg. Looking down, he saw a seborn sticking out of the side of his thigh. 

Two more enemies in front of him closed in for an attack. Kakashi could hear Sakura a few feet away; she sounded like she was doing okay. Pulling a kunai at lighting speed to defend against the oncoming attack, he leaned back on his left leg, but it nearly gave out on him under the pain. 

Something wasn’t normal about that senbon. Sakura said that stuff they were making was harmful. They must be dipping their weapons in it. The pain was unlike anything Kakashi had ever felt, but for a disciplined shinobi, he could push through it for a time.

A wave of kunai flew towards Sakura. She dodged left only to be tackled by a man twice her size. They fell to the ground and rolled a few feet. After her fist attack, the other enemies were staying back. They seemed to have caught on to the fact that she was a close range fighter and lethal in hand to hand. The big guy she was currently wrestling with was the only one that would get close enough for her to hit.

Just as another enemy tried to take advantage of the moment by moving in for a strike, Sakura rolled to her feet in a crouching position and launched herself forward, making contact with the man’s chest with enough force to make it cave in.

She immediately turned her attention to another man approaching from behind. She landed a kick to the man’s abdomen, sending him flying into the dwindling group surrounding Kakashi. It made a gap in their ranks big enough for Sakura and Kakashi to finally see each other. He was limping but otherwise seemed okay.

Kakashi saw Sakura through the gap; she looked like she was handling herself well. Just as he thought that, a large man about twice her size, came up from behind her and grabbed her in a bear hug. _ Shit! _ He couldn’t get to her right now. He was still trying to think about how to save her when she threw her arms behind her attacker's head, fingers interlocked, and flung the man over her head with enough force to put him through a nearby table.

Impressive for her size really. He couldn’t help but think that he had seen that maneuver used before, and by another small framed woman. _ Ahhh, Saki! _ It was the same move Saki had used on him during their picnic spar. _ Heh, what are the odds. _

Kakashi was down to his last opponent, though his leg was throbbing painfully. He could hardly keep his weight on it, but he had to push through the pain. They had to finish the fight soon and get out of there. The last of Kakashi’s opponents was coming at him head on, kunai in hand. Tightening his grip on his own kunai, he rushed forward to meet the man head on. They collided, and Kakashi barely avoided the killing blow. He was still able to hit his own mark and took the man down instantly.

He looked over to see how Sakura was doing. She was fighting a man hand to hand and winning. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi saw another man a few feet behind her, a handful of senbon ready. He was waiting for the right opportunity to throw them. Kakashi knew that those senbon were dipped in the same poinson as the one he had pulled out of his leg.

He looked back at Sakura. She had won the hand to hand fight with the first man. She didn’t see the other behind her; she must have thought the fight was over and had let her guard down. That was the moment the senbon welding man had been waiting for—when Sakura let out a sigh of relief, he sent a wave of poison senbon flying towards Sakura’s back.

“SAKURA!” Kakashi called out. Sakura turned just fast enough to catch sight of the wave of senbon flying towards her. She didn’t have time to dodge them; she was going to be hit. Kakashi was already moving, throwing himself between her and the spray of poison senbon. 

They scattered across his body. He had two in his right leg, one in each of his arms, and four in his torso. Sakura looked for the other shinobi only to see that he was no longer there. He had fled the scene like a coward; not surprising, since he had been lying in wait to attack her when her back was turned. Kakashi groaned in pain. 

He didn’t look good. She pulled out one of the senbon and examined it. She realized that they were coated with the strange poison they had found there. Kakashi would undoubtedly be in a lot of pain very soon. She needed to make him something to hold him over until they got back to Konoha. She quickly began searching the lab for what she needed to make the Gelsemium medicine.

Once she had grabbed everything that she needed, she hoisted Kakashi up onto her shoulders and took off into the woods headed toward Konoha. They wouldn’t make it there tonight, plus she would need to stop to mix the medicine as soon as they were far enough away from the town to be out of danger.

* * *

  
  
  


Sakura was starting to wonder how much further they needed to go and how much further Kakashi could handle going when he suddenly started convulsing on her shoulders. She came to a quick stop and laid him down on the grass, propping him up against a tree. He was breathing erratically, body covered in sweat and hissing in pain. He needed some form of treatment immediately.

She pulled out the items she had taken from the lab and began putting them together. This treatment was still being developed, and it wasn’t nearly field ready yet. But she had to try; she couldn’t just let him die. Especially not after he had gotten his injuries because of her. Kakashi let out another groan of pain, and his head fell backwards against the tree.

He was losing consciousness. Sakura didn’t know what would happen if he did, so she had to keep him awake. “Kakashi, look at me! Hey, I need you to stay awake...” she told him.

“Hmm, Sakura?” he groaned.

“Yeah, it’s me, Kakashi-sensei. Now stay awake for me.”

She needed to get those poison senbon out of him. She chastised herself for not doing that before they had left the lab; she had just been so worried about getting them somewhere safe to treat him. Looking at the placement of the senbon, she realized that she would have to at least partially undress him in order to treat him.  _ Awkward! _

He was pretty out of it, but she still wanted to give him the respect of letting him know what she was doing. “I’m going to need to take your shirt off, Kakashi-sensei. Try to stay still.”

She hooked her fingers underneath the hem of his shirt and began pulling it up. Once she had it around his neck, she was able to start taking out the senbon, starting with the two in his stomach, then the two in his chest and then finally one from each arm. 

Sitting back on her heels to take a look at the damage, she couldn’t help noticing his amazing physique. _ It would probably be less awkward if he didn’t look like that. _ Now for the two in his leg. To her relief, they were on the lower portion of his leg. She would be able to remove them by rolling his pant leg up rather than pulling them down. She had never thought about seeing Kakashi with his pants off.

Kakashi slumped forward, swaying a little as he did. He hadn’t said anything in a few minutes; he was having a lot of trouble staying awake.This wasn’t good. He needed a distraction. 

“Kakashi, tell me about your mom.” 

“What?” He was confused; what did his mother have to do with this?

“Yeah, to take your mind off of things. Tell me about your mom.”

Kakashi shifted uncomfortably. “I never knew her. She died giving birth to me,” he told her.

Well, now she felt like an ass. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. My mom died too, when I was sixteen. She was taken by an incurable disease. All my training as a medic and I couldn’t save my own mother,” she said softly.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I didn’t know.”

“What about your girlfriend, Kakashi-sensei? I never pegged you for the boyfriend type,” she joked. She was trying to change the subject—she felt like talking about the death of ones close to you when you were on the verge of death yourself probably wasn’t the best idea.

“I’m not really,” Kakashu answered. “I’d never had a proper relationship before her.” A small smile appeared on his lips. “But after I had met her, I knew something was different.” Kakashi was never this open about his private life or his feelings. It must be the poison.

“I bet she’s pretty.” Sakura said.

“Beautiful,” he corrected. He thought about what it would be like if he never saw Saki again, and he didn’t like that feeling that bubbled inside him. Then about what Saki would think if he just stopped showing up. If he never came back, she would never know why. 

_ Would she look for me? Would she think that I just bailed on her without a word? What if she blamed herself? Would she be angry or heartbroken?  _ His heart ached at the thought of what it would do to Saki if he never made it back home to her. 

“I’m seeing someone too,” Sakura said. “He is amazing. He took me on a picnic in the fall, and we went to the winter festival together. He cooks me my favorite foods and is always making me laugh.” Now she was smiling.

“Sounds like love.”

“Yeah, it does. What do you do with your girlfriend?” she asked. The Gelsemium was ready; she gave him the injection while he spoke.

“We don’t see each other much during the week due to work schedules. But we make the most of our time on weekends. She is kind, intelligent, and warm.”

Now that he had something for the pain, Sakura could use her poison extraction technique. It’s the same technique that she had used to save Kankuro years ago. Kakashi would still need medical treatment afterwards, but this would insure that he lived long enough to make it to receive it.

Sakura mixed the ingredients from her medical pouch with some fresh water from her water jug and began the procedure. She knew it was painful to begin it, and the more potent the poison was, the more painful the extraction would be. Some people even died from the procedure. 

Talking seemed to help distract him from the pain as well. So, she commented on his last statement, “Sounds like love, Kakashi-sensei.”

“Heh, yeah. It does, Sakura.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, thanks for reading. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday!
> 
> Thank you for all your support, you guy's are awesome. I hope you all continue to read, review and most of all enjoy!
> 
> The story is really picking up now and I am so very exited to share it with you all. 
> 
> Here is the next chapter, happy reading!

A half-conscious Kakashi emits a low groan. After Sakura had finished treating him, she could finally let him rest without needing to worry about any side effects. There was no denying that they both needed to sleep, but Kakashi needed it more. Not to mention that he wouldn’t be any good trying to stand guard right now. So she let him rest, but he was beginning to fade back into consciousness a little. 

Kakashi’s head was pounding, and his entire body ached. He tried to open his eyes, but they would just barely open. He did his best to look around, but he couldn’t see much. He was still hazy from the effects of the poison so everything was blurry, but he could tell that he was laying under a tree in the thick of the forest.

He was also aware that he wasn’t alone. Turning his head slightly to see his companion, he could tell that it was a woman. After noticing that he was awake, she leaned in over him then spoke to him ever so softly, “Hey, how are you feeling? Are you in any pain? I used an antidote made from the Gelsemium plant. It’s still in study, so I’m not sure how effective the dose I gave you will be. I hope it’s doing enough for you,” she told him softly. 

He wasn’t able to fully comprehend everything that she was saying to him, but he knew the voice.  _ Saki?! _

He knew it was her voice; there was no mistaking it. He reached for her, she moved a little closer, giving him a better view of her, but he still couldn’t really see her due to the haziness. Her hair looked lighter than usual, like it had that night at the park. Her sparkling green eyes looked down at him with concern. Why did her eye color always play tricks on him?

“Sak,” he choked out, reaching for her again. This time she grabbed his hand and held it tightly. He noticed it then—the chain around her neck and the pendant attached to it. She was wearing the necklace he had given her, and it matched her eyes almost exactly. Now he was sure that it was Saki here with him.

He knew her touch, her voice, that hair and those eyes. She was wearing the necklace and she seemed so concerned for him; nobody else would have that much concern for him. “Shhh, it’s alright, I’m here,” she told him, and he slipped back into the darkness of unconsciousness once again.

Sakura did her best to soothe him when he had woken up. It had only been for a moment and he had seemed confused at first. But then when he noticed her, he seemed to relax and slipped back to sleep. She knew he knew it was her even through his confusion because he had attempted to say her name. 

At latest he was okay, but they needed to get back to the village. Since Kakashi wasn’t able to walk or even stay conscious, Sakura knew she would have to carry him back herself. It was a several hour trip carrying light equipment. It would take her twice as long carrying Kakashi, but she couldn’t just leave him there. 

Standing up and brushing herself off, she made sure all of her equipment was secure before grabbing ahold of Kakashi and pulling him up on her shoulders once again. They needed to get moving; they had already spent four hours under that tree. “Time to go home, Sensei.” 

* * *

  
  
  


When Kakashi woke up the second time, he could tell two things. One that he was being carried and by someone much smaller than him. Two was that they were making their way through the forest on route to Konoha _. Good, I’m being taken home. _

“Hang in there, just a couple more hours,” Saki told him as she leaped over a fallen tree. Since when could Saki carry him on her back?  _ What the hell is going on?  _ Then everything was black again.

Sakura hoped that Kakashi was doing okay back there; she had stopped to check on him about an hour ago and he was stable, so she continued on. She wanted to reach Konoha by nightfall. She didn’t want to delay getting Kakashi full treatment any longer and the forest around there wasn’t a good place to spend the night with a half dead Copy-Ninja.

* * *

  
  
  


Sakura came sprinting through the front gates of the village hours later with an unconscious Kakashi still draped over her back. She made it all the way to the steps of the hospital before her knees gave out on her and she collapsed face first, still bearing the brunt of Kakashi’s weight. The nurse at the front desk could see them through the glass doors and immediately called for someone to get a stretcher and the Hokage.

Sakura was exhausted, and she was having trouble breathing. She also could tell that she was suffering from chakra depletion. With the fight she had at the lab, treating Kakashi, then using her chakra to be able to physically carry Kakashi the long distance home had her reserves dangerously low.

Thankfully, Tsunade didn’t take long getting to them and had them brought inside to start treatment. Sakura gave Tsunade as much information as she could about what had happened to Kakashi before being separated to undergo her own treatment. 

* * *

  
  
  


When Kakashi woke up for the third time, the first thing he noticed was the overwhelming smell of antiseptic. Opening his eyes, he noticed the large, bright light directly above him. Looking around the small, all white room then out the one window to see the village out of it, he knew he was in Konoha Hospital. 

The machine beeped loudly beside him, alerting the staff that he was now awake. Then the door to his room opened, and Tsunade came walking in holding a chart in her hand.

“You should be happy to know that the treatment you received in the field was just enough to extract all of the poison from your system. That’s something that would have taken hours of time and concentration, as well as chakra it would take.” She told him, still looking at the chart in her hand. 

“She is lucky that she didn’t do mer damage to herself than she did. Silly girl, I’ll have to have a talk with her about endangering herself like that,” Tsunade mumbled to herself. 

Well, at least she wasn’t screaming at him about being reckless or careless this time. Not yet anyways. She made her way around the hospital bed and placed the chart on his bedside table, then turned to him and began checking his vitals, stopping to record them on the chart after each one. 

She was quiet now, and she wasn’t looking at him either. He got the feeling that she was angry at him for something. She usually was after a mission where he got injured, but this felt different. Normally she gave him a good long lecture about how stupid he was for being such a genius. 

Tsunade wasn’t one to hold back when angry, either. But something was… off. So why wasn’t she saying anything? He squinted his eyes.

“Do you have something to say, Hatake?” she asked bluntly. 

The weight of everything that had happened in the past twelve hours hit him all at once. What happened to Sakura and Saki? He needed to know that they were both alright!

Sakura—she was his partner on this mission; they had escaped the lab together. He didn’t remember seeing her in the forest with Saki. Why wasn’t she there? Was she alright? Did something happen to her after he lost consciousness? “Sakura, is she alright? Is she hurt?” he asked Tsunade.

“You were lucky to have her as your partner for this mission, Kakashi, she risked serious and potentially permanent damage to herself in saving your sorry ass,” Tsunade snapped at him. “But, she will be fine. She has been given a few extra days off to completely heal before returning to the hospital for duty,” she said, her voice evening out.

A pang of guilt hit Kakashi; he had never wanted her to get hurt. Especially not because of him.

“Is Saki still here?”

“Saki? I didn’t get the impression from Sakura that the two of you were on ‘pet name’ terms,” Tsunade replied, sounding rather irritated.

“Not Sakura, Saki,” he corrected.

“Who is Saki?” Tsunade asked.

“She is someone I know; she works here in the hospital,” he said, as if the answer was obvious.

“Kakashi, I don’t know of a Saki here at the hospital.”

That couldn’t be right; he knew for sure that she worked there. “Are you sure? Maybe Saki is short for...”

“I personally approve of everyone who works here at the hospital; there is no Saki.”

_ What the hell is he talking about? _ Tsunade thought. There wasn’t anyone at the hospital by that name, or even on the shinobi roaster.  _ Why would he be asking about her anyways? Shouldn’t he be more concerned about Sakura? _ It seemed rather random, but Kakashi was never as random as he sometimes seemed.

He shook his head. “Saki. She was there with me in the forest. She must have been the one to bring me back to the village.”

Confused, Tsunade continued, “I have no idea what you’re talking about Kakashi. Sakura was the only one with you in the forest. She brought you back to the village single handedly, nearly causing serious harm to herself to do so.”

His memory coming back to him still hazy and out of order, but he was able to piece the events together regardless. “She even used the Gelsemium plant when she treated me in the forest, that’s an S-class project. How could anyone who doesn’t know how to use it save my life under the stress of battle?” It had to be Saki who was there with him;, who else could it have been?

“As I said before, Sakura did all of that. The Gelsemium project is hers, and she is the only one working on it. She is the one who treated you in the forest, and she is the one who brought you back to the village. She collapsed on the steps of the hospital from exhaustion and chakra depletion while carrying you.”

Kakashi was more confused than he had been in a long time. Tsunade had said that Sakura was the one that was there with him and not Saki… Something wasn’t making sense. He needed some time to think about this whole situation; he’d had a feeling for a while now that he was missing something. It was time to figure out what.

“Do you have any more questions for me Kakashi?” Tsunade asked, breaking him from his deep thoughts.

“Ehh, do you by chance know where Sakura is right now?” he asked her.

“At home resting. She’s been there since this morning. She woke up around 8:00, and I let her go home a couple of hours later,” Tsunade told him. “But don’t even think about leaving this hospital. You are not fit to leave. Do you understand me?”

“Of course,” he said innocently. 

“I have other things to tend to. I’ll have Sakura come by to see you tomorrow. The two of you have something to talk about.”

Kakashi looked at her, _ what would they need to talk about? _

“You owe her a thank you and an apology for your behavior during this mission. Honestly Kakashi, the girl doesn’t deserve that kind of treatment from you. You shouldn’t be pushing her away like you have been,” Tsunade explained.

Kakashi nodded, and Tsunade left the hospital room, leaving Kakashi alone with his thoughts.

* * *

  
  
  


Sakura had woken up in the hospital earlier that day after passing out on the front steps of the hospital the evening before. Tsunade had checked her over, and Sakura gave her the short version of the events from the mission. After that, she was allowed to go home to rest in her own bed.

She had eaten at the hospital after Tsunade checked her over, so she wasn’t really hungry, but she was in desperate need of a shower. She stripped down to nothing, throwing her dirty clothes in the basket by the bathroom door and heading for the shower. 

She was tempted to take a bath to soothe her aching muscles, but she didn’t like the idea of soaking in the layers of filth clinging to her body.

“Shower it is,” she sighed to herself.

After her shower, she sat down at her small kitchen table to begin her official mission report. Afterwards, she planned to document everything that she could about using the Gelsemium plant to treat Kakashi-sensei. 

She had been trying to keep the whole disaster of a mission out of her head since she had gotten home, but she had to document what she had done and what she had learned from using the Gelsemium plant, and she had to turn in an official mission report to Tsunade in a couple of days. If she just got it over with now, then maybe she would be able to get the ordeal off her mind.

She was almost done with the second page of her mission report when someone knocked on her front door. She wasn’t expecting anyone, but she knew that people had seen her come into the village the evening before, and she knew that people would be talking about it. It was probably just a concerned friend or co-worker coming to see how she was feeling.

Sakura sighed and stood up from her chair, making her way to the door just as another knock came, this time louder.

* * *

  
  
  


Kakashi was thinking through every detail of the mission. There had to be something there that would point him in the right direction; he had just missed it the first time. But the more he thought about it, the more confusing it seemed. He was beginning to run out of possible explanations. 

Sakura was the one on the mission with him. She was there when he lost consciousness. She was a medic and she would know how to treat poisons. Due to her training with Tsunade, she had chakra-enhanced strength that would make her able to carry him a long distance. Tsunade had said that Sakura was the one who carried him into the village. She also said that the Gelsemium project was Sakura’s and not Saki’s, and that she didn’t even know anyone named Saki.

So then why had he seen Saki in the forest? It had to be her. Saki had been there; he knew she was! He could hear her voice, feel her touch, he could even partially make her out. She was wearing the necklace he had given her, and she had told him that she was working on the Gelsemium plant project. How would she know so much about the project if she wasn’t working on it?

Unless he had somehow mistaken Sakura for Saki in his confusion. Could that be what happened? He began to think of any similarities between Sakura and Saki. They had the same body build, very similar facial features. They even had similar voices, now that he thought about it. 

Sakura was a couple of inches shorter than Saki, but he wouldn’t be able to tell that from their positions in the forest.

Sakura’s pink hair was a lighter shade than Saki’s red hair, and her eyes were green instead of blue like Saki’s. The eyes he had seen in the forest were green too. That must be it; he had mistaken Sakura for Saki in the forest because there were so many similarities between them.

He distinctly remembered that Saki’s eye color always played tricks on him. He remembered the eyes in the forest being green, almost the exact same shade as the pendant.  _ The pendant?  _

He thought back to his memories with Saki, he remembered giving Saki the necklace and noticing that it was almost the exact same shade of green as her eyes. Thinking back, he realized there were other times that her eyes seemed to change color. Then there was the time in the park, her hair—it was almost pink! They were all signs of a user losing control of their henge.  _ NO, no no no no no. That can’t be! _

Digging deeper into his memories of both Saki and Sakura, he began to see too many similarities to ignore. Their love of dumplings, their favorite color being red, they hated spicy foods, working at the hospital, the Gelsemium plant project, being friends with Ino, losing their mothers from an illness at sixteen, the fighting techniques they both used… and there were so many others.

Kakashi jumped out of bed and grabbed his clothes, quickly putting them on. He jumped out the window in his hospital room and hit the ground running. Driven by panic, he had only one destination in mind. A few minutes later he arrived outside of Saki’s apartment building and headed up the stairs to her floor, down the hall to her door and stood in front of it for a moment.

He raised his hand to knock and took a deep breath. He was at Saki’s apartment; he had been there many times before. But he was fairly certain that Saki was not who was going to open the door in the next few moments. 

Kakashi knocked, then waited. Nothing. 

He knocked again, louder this time. 

Then he heard her, moving towards the door. The door opened, and there stood an exhausted looking Sakura. Kakashi’s heart sank into the pit of his stomach. Saki was Sakura in a henge. There was really no denying it at this point, but just to make things worse, she was even wearing the necklace he had gotten her.

She didn’t look happy to see him. She crossed her arms and offered no greeting. Instead she only asked, “What are you doing here, Kakashi-sensei?” 

Kakashi closed his eyes tightly then opened them again; he could see Saki so clearly in Sakura now that she was standing before him. How could he have been so blind?

“I was told that you had treated me for my injuries and poison in the forest before bringing me back to the village,” he started. “I wanted to say thank you!”

“You are a fellow shinobi and I am a medic; that’s what I’m supposed to do. You didn’t have to come to my house unannounced like this,” she stated.

“Ahh, I suppose you’re right about that, but I thought that maybe we could grab something to eat, and you can fill me in on all the details, hmm?” He hadn’t intended on it, but he had to improvise somehow. He couldn’t just tell her he had showed up out of nowhere to confirm his suspicions about her secret identity.

“I already ate, so I’m not hungry. You can get the details from Lady Tsunade,” she told him firmly. 

“Right,” he said, running a hand through his silver hair.

She narrowed her eyes at him. What the hell was he thinking? He had spent the past few years avoiding her like she had an infectious disease, and the last few days he had done his best to push her away. Now he was showing up at her house unannounced trying to casually go get some food and make small talk?  _ How does he even know where I live? _

He was staring at her but not at her face. Following his line of sight, she looked down. She wasn’t really dressed for visitors but she wasn’t inappropriate. Surely he wasn’t just blatantly staring at her breasts. What the hell was he looking at so intently?

“What? Why are you staring at me like that?” she asked, sounding annoyed. 

He shoved both hands deep into his pockets and was now staring intently at a spot on the floor, seemingly determined not to make eye contact.

“I was just admiring your necklace; it’s very pretty. It’s almost the exact same shade of green as your eyes.” 

Sakura’s face softened and she smiled a little to herself. “Thank you! My boyfriend got it for me last month at the festival. The lady who sold it to him said that it was custom made and one of a kind.” Her smile grew; the memory clearly made her happy.

“He sounds like a good man, you deserve that,” he almost whispered. 

Sakura sighed and uncrossed her arms, “Kakashi.” He looked up at the sound of her voice saying his name softly. “I thought that this mission could help us get closer, I thought that I could show you how much I’ve grown, that maybe we could actually be friends after all this time.

“You have spent years avoiding me, years blowing me off, years wanting nothing to do with me. When our team was disbanded, you started treating me like I didn’t exist. You abandoned me when you were the only person who shared my pain. Even on this mission, all I was to you was dead weight and an annoyance.” 

_ No, that’s not true! _ He knew he had been elusive, but had he really made her feel so terrible? Did she really believe that any of this was her fault?

“I have tried for a long time to mend things with you and to bond with you like team mates should. But this last mission showed me that you have no intention of ever doing that. You proved once and for all that you want nothing to do with me.” 

Panic struck Kakashi as he noticed the tears welling up in Sakura’s eyes.

“I’m done trying to be your friend, or trying to get to know and understand you. I’m done following you around having a one-sided conversation. I’m just done with this,” she explained as she foisted her hand in the air between them, “I get it; you hate me and I’ll leave you alone from now on, Kakashi.”

Kakashi’s eyes grew wide as he felt all of the air leave his lungs. She couldn’t possibly mean that, right? Had he misread her all this time? She didn’t hate him at all, she actually wanted to be close to him? His head was spinning. 

Had he really screwed things up so badly?

“Sakura, I...” He was at a loss for words, overwhelmed by the situation for the first time he could ever remember.

Kakashi’s lack of protest was all the answer Sakura needed; she knew this was the best thing to do. 

As Kakashi scrambled for the right thing to say, Sakura spoke up once again. “You don’t have to say anything; I’m a big girl now, Sensei. I’m not the same old cry baby that I used to be. I just wanted you to know that I understand, and I won't bother you anymore. You should get back to the hospital before someone realizes that you’re missing,” she told him, looking away.

She looked back at him and they made eye contact. “Good bye, Kakashi-sensei,” she said and closed the door. 

Kakashi didn’t know how long he stood there staring at the closed door in his face. He was in love with a beautiful, kind, intelligent woman named Saki. Saki had actually been Sakura the whole time. The woman he had fallen so full heartedly in love with was Sakura. Kakashi Hatake was in love with Sakura Haruno.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm so sorry for the long wait for this chapter, it's been busy and I wanted to get this chapter right for you guys.
> 
> As always, thank you all so much for reading my story, please continue to read and review.
> 
> With that said, please enjoy chapter 14!

_ Kakashi was standing in the open doorway to Saki’s apartment. On the other side of it stood Saki herself. Long red hair framed her face and flowed down her curves. Her big blue eyes stared at him with love and compassion. _

_ Just as he was about to cross the barrier into her apartment and take her into his arms, she spoke to him. _

_ “I have tried for a long time to mend things with you and to bond with you like teammates should. But this last mission showed me that you have no intention of ever doing that. You proved once and for all that you want nothing to do with me.”  _

_ Why was she talking about being on a mission with him? What did she mean by mend things? Saki was changing before his very eyes. _

_ Her red hair shortened a few inches and lightened to a soft pink. Her loving blue eyes turned green and now held hurt and anger in them. She shrank a couple of inches and was now level with his chest. Now standing before him was an angry and hurt Sakura, who began to speak again. _

_ “I’m done trying to be your friend or trying to get to know and understand you. I’m done following you around having a one-sided conversation. I’m just done with this,” she explained as she foisted her hand in the air between them. “I get it; you hate me and I’ll leave you alone from now on, Kakashi.” _

_ “Sakura, I...” _

_ “You don’t have to say anything; I’m a big girl now, Sensei. I’m not the same old cry baby that I used to be. I just wanted you to know that I understand, and I won't bother you anymore. You should get back to the hospital before someone realizes that you’re missing,” she told him, looking away. _

_ She looked back at him and they made eye contact. “Good bye, Kakashi-sensei,” she said and closed the door.  _

_ He lunged forward at the closing door, but he was too slow. It was closed before he could stop it. _

_ Now he was pressed up against the door and banging his fist on it in an attempt to get it open again. He knew Sakura was still there; he could hear her soft cries on the other side of the door. His heart broke. He called out to her through the door. _

_ “Sakura, open the door!” he pleaded with her, “Just talk to me, I can explain,” he continued, hoping to get through to her. _

_ “I can’t, Kakashi,” she cried. “It hurts too much! How could you do this to me?” _

_ “I… I didn’t mean to. I never wanted to hurt you!” he tried to explain.  _

_ “Just leave me alone, Kakashi!” she shouted through the door, “I never want to see you again.” _

_ Panic washed over Kakashi. He had grown even more attached to her than he had realized. He couldn’t let her go. “Sakura, please, don’t do this. I love you! I want us to be together. I love you, Sakura!” _

Kakashi awoke with a start. He was covered in a cold sweat and something wet running down his face. He brought one hand up to touch his wet cheek.  _ Tears?!  _

Flashes of his terrible dream washed over him and with it the memories of him going to Saki’s house the previous night and finding Sakura there. His heart ached all over again.

It was Friday and Sukea was supposed to go visit Saki, something he wasn’t so sure was a good idea. He had thought about it a lot the night before after leaving Sakura’s place. He had wandered around the village for hours thinking about what Saki meant to him. What  _ Sakura  _ meant to him.

He knew that he loved her; it wasn’t an easy thing for him to admit after the life he had lived, but he knew it. Even if he wasn’t ready to say it out loud. He also knew that he wanted to be with Saki no matter what her real name was. 

Sure, she was beautiful, though truth be told so was Sakura. But he had fallen in love with who she was, not what she looked like. He loved her for her kindness, her devotion to helping others, and her dedication to their village. She was also intelligent and witty. He had never had a dull conversation with her.

She was fun and outgoing but never overly wild and crazy. She wasn’t out to be the center of attention or to be noticed by anyone but him. He was enough for her; he was all she wanted. It was a fact that warmed Kakashi’s heart.

During his long walk lost in his own thoughts, he realized that the whole time he was Sukea, he had still been Kakashi. He looked different, sure, but he hadn’t been faking or acting around Saki. She got the full unguarded Kakashi Hatake.

He believed that the same was also true for Sakura, that everything that he had experienced with Saki was real for Sakura. He had come to the conclusion that the henges had made the two of them drop their guards and truly be themselves with each other. Something that neither one of them would have ever done as their true identity due to their history.

Once they were able to look at each other with someone else's face on, they had been able to get to know each other in a different way, a way that they had never been able to before. The result of this was that the two of them were undeniably in love with each other. 

That was something Kakashi had decided that he wasn't willing to let go of easily. He had never been in love before and most of the people in his life that he had loved were all gone now in one way or another. That thought brought back a painful memory for Kakashi.

During the final battle that took Sasuka’s life and nearly Naruto’s, Kakashi had saved Sakura without thought. His body had just moved; he had chalked it up to instinct at the time. She was the only one he could save, right? That wasn’t true, though. He could have tackled either of the boys, sparing them and leaving the other to collide with Sakura.

But he didn’t. He had protected Sakura and left the two young men to collide with one another and land their fatal blows. Kakashi had always cared for Sakura as a teammate, and he knew that he hadn’t been in love with her during the war. 

But he was fairly certain now that she had meant more to him even back then than he had realized. Now that had blossomed into a whole new kind of feeling for him. He just couldn’t let what he had with Sakura go without a fight.

Kakashi was hoping that he wouldn’t have to fight to stay with Sakura. He hoped that when their true identities came to light, she would realise as he did that who she really loved was Kakashi, that he was just wearing Sukea’s face.

He knew he couldn’t continue to see Sakura as Sukea, knowing who she was and not telling her. He would be outright lying to her; it would be manipulative and outright wrong. Not telling her the truth was not an option.

  
  
  
  


Kakashi wrapped his scarf a little tighter around him as the cold winter wind bit at his skin. He was on his way to Sakura’s house to see Saki. He had made up his mind earlier that day that he would tell Sakura who he really was, and that he also knew who she really was as well. 

He had tried several times throughout the day to plan out exactly what he was going to say to Sakura when the time came to have that talk. Unfortunately for him, the right words never came to him. Each time he would mentally start the conversation, nothing he came up with seemed like the right thing to say.

Too bad Master Jiraiya hadn’t written a book about a situation like his. It would have given him at least something to go off of. He was terrible at personal talk, even worse at romantic talk, and never had he ever had to talk to someone about love or secret identities. Especially not in the same conversation. 

Kakashi sighed to himself. He was now standing in front of Sakura’s apartment building. “Well, it’s now or never,” he said to himself before climbing the stairs to her floor. 

He was already in his henge, having performed the seals in a private space along the way. He had decided a while ago that it would be problematic if someone were to see Sukea leaving his house on such a regular basis and equally problematic for someone to see Kakashi entering Sakura’s apartment building every weekend.

Before he could breathe, he was standing in front of her door again. He knocked. Then everything felt like slow motion as he heard Sakura make her way to the door. He watched the door knob turn and it opened slowly.

When the door finally opened fully, Saki was waiting on the other side of it. Long red hair framed her face and flowed down her curves. Her big blue eyes stared at him with love and compassion _.  _ She reached her hand out for him to take. He did so and followed her into the apartment. 

Once the door was closed behind them, she immediately wrapped both of her arms around him. He pulled her into his embrace, feeling her warmth, smelling her scent and the warmth that spread through his own body at having her in his arms. He hoped that feeling wasn’t something that he would be losing tonight.

“I made dinner.” Saki declared. “Are you hungry?”

He nodded. “I am, but I need to talk to you about something first.”

Sakura had been so excited to get to see Sukea. The mission she had been on with Kakashi had taken a toll on her, both physically and mentally. Now that he was finally with her, he was giving her the classic  _ “We need to talk”  _ pre-break up line and a guilty facial expression to top it off.

Sakura jumped back like she had just been burned, hoping that she was just reading too much into this.

She knew something was coming, he had something to tell her and they both knew she wasn’t going to like it.  _ This isn't how this was supposed to go _ . Kakashi thought to himself.

Saki sighed. “You don’t want to see me anymore,” she said in the softest of voices. 

He really was terrible at love, wasn’t he?! That was the last thing he wanted, but her fear actually gave him hope that maybe she wouldn’t shun him from her life once he told her the truth.

But first, he needed to get her to relax. He reached out and circled one arm around her slim waist. “Of course not. That’s the last thing that I want,” he answered honestly.

Sakura scrunched her nose in confusion. “Then what is it, Sukea?” If he wasn’t breaking up with her, then what was on his mind that made him look so sad and guilty?

Kakashi’s brain was drawing a blank; he had no idea how to talk to her about the situation they had gotten themselves in. He needed to buy himself a little bit more time to properly think it out. “I uhh, won’t be here here next weekend. I have an event, and it will take through the weekend to complete. I’m sorry.”  _ For everything _ , he told her.

“Oh, that’s okay. I understand,” she reassured him, then her eyes went wide. “Sukea, next weekend is Christmas. It’s our first Christmas together; you can’t miss that!”

_ Shit! _ He never had anyone to celebrate Christmas with, so the actual day usually crept up on him. He hadn't realized that when he had decided to tell her that he couldn’t be there. “I’ll see if I can work something out. No promises, though.”

She nodded, and his stomach growled loudly. “We should eat before the food gets cold,” she giggled.

“Right.” He would have to figure out how to tell her tonight.  _ Well, back to square one of plan-A, I suppose. _

“Do you need any help with anything?” he asked her.

“No, I’ve got it. You just go sit down.” She smiled at him.

He took his usual seat at the small kitchen table as Saki began making their plates of food. Kakashi found himself immediately lost in his own thoughts.

He thought, not for the first time, that he could spend every evening of the rest of his life just like this. Sharing a home with the woman he loved, having dinner together, spending the rest of the evening cuddled on the sofa reading together before they headed off to bed to make love.

Yes, he could see himself being happy spending the rest of his life with…  _ SAKURA! _

He had already come to terms with the fact that Sakura was Saki in a henge, but the thought of being comfortable spending the rest of his life with her hit him differently now that he was thinking of her as Sakura.

He really needed to figure out the right way to tell her the truth. Tonight! He was determined to clear it up tonight. Regardless of the consequences, he knew it was wrong to keep it from her any longer. 

Sakura turned around to Sukea at her kitchen table. With a plate of food in each hand, she walked to the table and set each in its place. Sukea didn’t even seem to notice—not the food in front of him or her beside him. He was acting really strange tonight; she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, or that maybe he wasn’t telling her something.

“Hey,” came a soft voice. “Are you okay?” Kakashi felt her delicate hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her. She looked worried. He must have checked out for a minute; he didn’t even notice her approaching. 

He wanted to calm her fears. Feeling bad that he had spaced out and had made her worried, he wrapped one arm around her small waist and pulled her closer. “I’m fine, as long as I have you.” 

Sakura wasn’t completely convinced, but she didn’t want to push him if he wasn’t comfortable talking about it. Besides, he made it clear that he had no intention of ending their relationship. As long as that wasn the case, how bad could it be?

He cleared his throat. “Saki,” he started.

Sakura placed a single finger gently to his lips. “It’s okay. Whatever it is, we don’t have to talk about it right now,” she reassured him before leaning in to place a kiss on his lips.

Kakashi knew that he should have protested, but the need to be close to her took over. He returned the kiss and soon deepened it by stroking his tongue across her lower lip to ask for entrance. Soon she climbed into his lap to straddle him and wrapped both arms around his strong shoulders.

With their lips still connected and their hands still clinging to each other, Saki stood up and began to pull Sukea with her. She continued to encourage their activities as she pulled him towards her bedroom door, kissing and running her fingers through his hair.

Feeling the need to have her closer to him, Kakashi pulled her in, now having her body flush against his. They staggered their way to her bedroom, removing clothing as they went. He knew this need for her could only be satisfied when she finally took him into her.

He gently laid her out on the bed before him, leaning over her he kissed her with passion. Climbing atop of her, he kissed his way down her neck and at her ear. She was running her small hands down his back, gripping him tightly when he kissed the right places.

“Sakura,” he groaned into her shoulder. 

_ Sakura? What? How? When? WHO?? _ Sakura thought in a panic.  _ What the hell is going on? _

Saki’s body had gone rigid and she had stopped breathing. Clearly something was wrong; he leaned back to look her in the face, her eyes were wide and confused, and she was beginning to breathe rapidly. _ Was she about to have a panic attack? _

Not sure what had brought on this change in her, he gently grabbed her chin and turned her head to face him. “Saki?”

As soon as her eyes locked with his he felt her hands on his chest, pushing hard. He sat back and looked at her, now thoroughly confused. She scurried back on the bed. grabbing at her blanket in an attempt to get away from him and to cover herself.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“Saki, what are…”

“I asked, who are you?!” she asked again, sounding more angry this time. Her red hair went pink and blue eyes went green. She had dropped her henge; she was Sakura again. “You called me Sakura! How do you know that? Who are you really?”

_ Oh no. He had called her Sakura, hadn’t he? _ Now she was panicking and thinking of him as a threat. If he didn’t want her to start throwing chakra enhanced punches, he needed to defuse this situation and prove to her that he wasn’t a threat.

He had decided to tell her the truth tonight and he could admit that he had gotten carried away in the moment. He had still been working things out in his mind when they had started this in the kitchen, but this was definitely not how he wanted this conversation to go.

“Sakura, you don’t have to be afraid. I would never hurt you. I swear.”

“Then tell me who you are.” Her eyes were fixed on him. She didn’t believe him, and she certainly didn’t trust him.

He took a long deep breath and released the henge right before her eyes. His brown hair turned to silver, his eyes faded to their dark grey color, and all the scars from his past were bared for her to see.

Sakura’s mouth dropped, and her eyes grew wide. She jumped off the bed and backed up to the far wall, seemingly trying to get as far away from him as she could without actually leaving the room.

This was bad. She wasn’t taking it well at all.

“Why would you do something like this? How could you do something like this?” Her voice was climbing with every word.

Kakashi understood why she was upset; he had taken it hard when he had found out, and her way of finding out was even worse. He knew he had made a mistake by not telling her right away. It left too much room for something like this to happen.

“Sakura, I didn’t mean for you to find out like that.”

“But you KNEW!” She was all but screaming at him now.

He took a couple of steps towards her. He hated seeing her like that and only wanted to make things better. But she wasn’t going to let him.

“Don’t come any closer to me!” She was holding onto the sheet around her so tightly that her knuckles were white.

“I can explain,” he tried to reason with her.

“What is there to explain? You have been sleeping with me and dating me while knowing who I am and hiding who you are!”

“That’s not entirely true, and you have been using a henge as well. You aren’t completely innocent in all of this either, Sakura,” he told her sternly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“You asked me to start dating, remember? And at least I didn’t know that it was you! Trust me if I had known, I never would have slept with you that first night. What was this, Kakashi? Some kind of sick joke to you, another cruel way to mess with my head?

“Was it a fun game for you? As Kakashi you treat me so terribly, then as Sukea you sleep with me and make me fall for you while you’re in a henge?” her tone was incredibly bitter.

Those questions coming from her hurt more than Kakashi wanted to admit. He realized how it must look to Sakura; he had only known for a couple of days, but he had never intended to keep the truth from her. Unfortunately, that must have been exactly how it looked to Sakura.

“I didn’t know it was you until our last mission, I promise. I didn’t do any of this on purpose. Do you honestly think that I would do that? Do you think that I would have come on to you that night if I had known it was you?”

He hadn’t meant it as an insult. He was just trying to show her that he wouldn’t have taken advantage of her like that. 

Sakura snorted. “You wouldn't take me home from the bar, but you were more than willing to sleep with me fifteen minutes ago knowing who I am. What’s the difference?” 

“Because,” was all that came out of Kakashi’s mouth. He knew what he wanted to say but couldn’t bring himself to actually say it to her face.

“Because,” Sakura repeated. Her eyes began to fill with tears, but she refused to let them fall in front of Kakashi. “If that’s all you have to say for everything that has happened, then it’s time for you leave. Again.”

He didn’t say anything but didn’t make a move to grab his clothes to leave either.

“You broke my trust and you hurt me more than you could ever know. You don’t even have anything to say for your actions. Please leave my house.”

Kakashi grabbed his discarded clothes and quickly dressed himself before making his way to the door. He looked back at Sakura’s bedroom door that was still open. She was sitting on the foot of her bed, and he could hear her soft cries. He wanted to turn around and go comfort her, but he figured he had already made a big enough mess of things tonight.

This day had started with a nightmare and it would seem that it was going to end in one as well.


	15. Chapter 15

“WHAT? How can you even say that?” Sakura yelled at Ino across the table. 

“I’m just saying that you could have at least listened to what he had to say, Sakura.”

“And why would I do that after what he did?” Sakura asked defensively.

Sakura and Ino were sitting at their usual table at the small tea house. When Ino arrived, Sakura was already there waiting. As soon as Ino sat down, Sakura went into full blabble mode, telling Ino everything about her mission with Kakashi to finding out that he had actually been Sukea the whole time.

“Because maybe he actually did have a good explanation, but you were too busy freaking out on him to listen.” Ino was only trying to reason with Sakura. She knew that Sakura and Kakashi were right for each other, and Sakura was just afraid of the situation. 

Sakura snorted. “Yeah, like he’s a pervert and gets off on playing mind games with the women he sleeps with.”

Ino frowned. She knew Sakura was just speaking out of hurt and anger, but still. “Kakashi, commander of the four division during the war, the man that has saved your life multiple times, who has put his life on the line for people he hardly knows. Do you really think that he is the kind of person to do something like that?”

Sakura knew he wasn’t; he was honestly one of the best men she has ever known. But that didn’t excuse what he did to her. Sakura sighed, “No, I know that he wasn’t doing this out of some sick fedish. But still, whatever his reason is, what he did is not okay.”

“You can’t stay hung up on that forever, Sakura. You lied too.”

“I lied about my real name, and I didn’t even know it was Kakashi. He knew it was me on Friday night. More importantly, I wasn’t pretending to have feelings for him, Ino. I really did love Sukea.”

“I know you did, but Sukea is Kakashi, just with a different face,” Ino argued.

“No he isn’t. Kakashi is nothing like Sukea, and if he wasn’t pretending, then why didn’t he say anything the other night? Why didn’t he tell me he loved me if he truly felt that way?”

Deep in her heart, she really wanted to believe that Ino was right. That Kakashi really was like her Sukea, and that he really did love her as much as she did him. But the gnawing fear that it was all just a game to him kept her from admitting it. It would be easier just to lose him if that were the case.

“Maybe he didn’t confess his love for you because you were too busy freaking out at him and kicking him out of your house, Sakura!”

“You know what, Ino, I really don’t need this right now,” Sakura was practically shouting at Ino.

“I thought that as my best friend you would be on my side in all of this. Even if he does love me - which he doesn’t - still doesn’t excuse him lying to me, and it especially doesn’t excuse him sleeping with me knowing who I was without telling me who he was.” 

Sakura stood up and promptly left the tea house, not even bothering to look back.

Ino slumped back in her chair. The conversation didn’t go nearly as well as she had wanted it to.  _ “Hopefully Genma is having better luck talking with Kakashi.”  _ Ino thought as she watched as Sakura left the tea house. She realized their little outburst had gathered a bit of attention—the man sitting at the next table over was putting money down and preparing to leave himself.

She gave him an apologetic smile, “Sorry about that sir,” she said, though he said nothing as he too made his way out the door.

* * *

  
  


Kakashi was sitting under a large tree just outside of the village gates. He was staring at his open book, but his thoughts were in a completely different place. 

“There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you, man,” Genma announced as he approached Kakashi and took a seat beside him.

“I haven’t been in the mood to deal with people today,” Kakashi explained.

“When are you ever?” Genma asked, knowing full well that Saki had everything to do with Kakashi’s down mood.

Kakashi shut his book and laid it beside him in the grass, he looked off in the distance as if contemplating something. He took a deep breath and said, “I screwed things up with her. I screwed up bad, Genma. I’m not sure I can fix what has happened, either.”

“Is that so?”

Kakashi didn’t say anything.

“Well, are you going to tell me what happened or what?” Genma asked, as he nudged Kakashi’s side. Getting Kakashi to talk about anything was harder than pulling teeth.

Kakashi sighed again. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt.” So Kakashi told Genma about his mission with Sakura, everything that had happened between them when he was poisoned, then about waking up in the hospital and following the clues to finding out Saki was actually Sakura in a henge. 

He explained that he had intended to tell Sakura the truth about everything but had gotten carried away and had let it slip at the worst time imaginable. He admitted to Genma that he wanted to be with Sakura regardless of the henge situation. He didn’t care about what she looked like or her name; he had fallen in love with her as a person.

“So, now what?” Genma asked.

“I don’t know. Sakura hates me. She won’t see or talk to me,” Kakashi told him.

“So, what? You’re just giving up then? You’re going to just let her go?”

“Of course not, but how can I fix something if Sakura won’t give me the chance to?”

“You have to be honest and open with her. I know it sounds all mushy, but seriously. Women like to know that their man cares about them. Try it just once, tell her how you really feel about her and see what happens,” Genma advised.

He hoped that Sakura had reached deep enough into Kakashi’s heart for him to open up to her the way she needed him to. She just needed to hear him say it, even if it was just once. He chuckled to himself at that thought; he should take his own advice and apply it to his relationship with Ino. 

Kakashi thought about what Genma had told him. Could it be that simple? If she hears him say how much he loves her, will everything be fine? Even if that were the case, Kakashi wasn’t sure he could express himself like that. 

He had never been the type of man to express his feelings. That was why being Sukea was different for him. As Sukea he could be himself, woth no walls, no boundaries, and no need to hide his inner self. That was who Sakura had fallen in love with, he realized. She was the first and only person to get to know the man under the mask.

He was truly himself with her; he expressed his feelings for her physically and verbally without fear. He never had to hide anything when it was just them. He could only assume that Sakura was the same. She was being the real Sakura, not in the sense that she was fake around her friends or anything, but that she was able to relax and be herself around him when she didn’t know it was him.

His mind made up, he stood up and pushed off the tree. He wasn’t ready to throw away what he and Sakura had; he was going to find her to straighten all of this out. He started walking back towards the gate without another word, with only one thing on his mind. He needed to find Sakura.

* * *

  
  
  


Sakura was walking through the village heading towards the hospital when she felt like she was being followed. She turned around, but nobody stood out to her as odd. She turned back around and ran into what felt like a brick wall. She stumbled back a couple of steps before strong hands grabbed her shoulders to steady her. She looked up to come face to face with none other than Kakashi. She frowned at him and pulled away slightly. He released her immediately and let his hands drop to his sides. 

She instantly missed his touch when he let go, but she wouldn’t tell him that.

“What do you want, Kakashi?” she asked as she crossed her arms.

“To talk,” he answered.

“There is nothing to talk about.”

“I think there is. Hear me out, Sakura.” The pleading look in his eyes actually had her considering it.

“I can’t right now. I’m on my way to the hospital. It’s important, so I can’t be late,” she told him.

“I understand. Tonight, maybe? I can meet you at your place.”

Oh no, he was NOT coming to her place. She knew that they would likely end up in bed together, and that wasn’t a good idea. “No, not my place,” was all she said.

“Alright, our usual spot on the bridge then?” he asked her softly.

Sakura was fighting the urge to give in to him.

Kakashi could see her internal struggle. He wanted to talk about things, but he also didn’t want to push her too hard. “6:00 at the Kintai Bridge. I’ll be there. If you show up, we can talk about what’s happened, and I’ll tell you anything that you want to know.”

“I’ll think about it.”

At least it wasn’t a hard no, he thought. Now hopefully she shows up.

“I have to go.”

He nodded and she walked off. He watched her until she was out of sight. Neither of them noticed the two men that had been listening in on their conversation, they gave each other a silent nod just before taking off, one following Sakura to the hospital and the other following a very distracted Kakashi.

* * *

  
  
  


Ino walked through Genma’s front door without knocking and threw herself next to him on the couch. “Tell me you have good news about your talk with Kakashi.”

She really was too cute. “Well, he still wants to be with her after everything that’s happened. He doesn’t care about the henge. Whether her real name is Saki or Sakura, he’s in love with her.”

“That’s a point in our favor at least,” Ino huffed.

“I take it Sakura wasn’t as easy to deal with?” Genma asked.

Ino gave him a pointed look. “She is in complete denial. She’s trying to make it out like they were both just faking it as their henges, like none of the attachment is real because they were in disguise. But I can read her like a book; she loves him, and she wants this. She’s just…” Ino trailed off.

“Afraid,” Genma finished for her.

Ino nodded. “Yeah.”

“I know. Kakashi is too—he isn’t ready to really open up to her, and it’s hard for him to care about people much less talk to them about it. A life of pain will do that to a man.”

“Not just to men,” Ino mumbled, Genma was pretty sure she hadn’t even meant to say it at all.

Genma knew he was being a hypocrite earlier when he told Kakashi to just tell Sakura the truth; he had fallen hard for the blond bombshell that was currently tucked into his side. But he had yet to express that to her.  _ Well, she won’t know unless I tell her _ . 

“Ino,” Genma said softly.

She looked up and met his eyes expectantly.

“Move in with me?”

“What the hell are you talking about, Genma?” Ino squealed.

“I want you to move in with me. I don’t want to half ass date anymore, I want us to actually date! I’ve fallen for you harder than I thought that I could, and I don’t want to take the chance of some other guy coming into your life and stealing you away from me.”

Ino just stared at him for a long moment while she processed what he had told her. Is that what she wanted? Did she want an actual relationship with Genma? She enjoyed their time together; they were very comfortable with each other and they got along well. She spent most nights at his place already, and she hadn’t given another guy a single look in months.

Why hadn’t she given any other guys a chance since she started seeing Genma? Well, because Genma gave her everything that she needed from a partner, and she had no reason to seek out other partners to fill her needs. He was sweet, fun, took her on dates, listened to her babble on about anything that she wanted, and he was great in bed.

Ino suddenly realized that Genma had somehow turned out to be her perfect guy.  _ Huh, who would have thought. _ But moving in together was a little fast for her since she had only just realized that she wanted a real relationship with the man.

“I’m not going to move in with you.”

Genma frowned.

“Yet.” He instantly perked up at that word.

“I think that we need time in a real relationship together before moving in together officially. I’m not saying no, just that I want more time.”

Genma was just happy that she didn’t laugh at him, “Okay, you’ll still come stay the night, right?”

“Of course.” She smiled. “I have to work at the flower shop today, but I’ll be back tonight.

“Sounds good. Some of the guys are going out for drinks later. I think I’ll go sit in for a couple rounds until you get off.”

“Okay, I’ll just meet you there then,” she told him.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Sakura walked out of the hospital rubbing at her temples. It had been a long grueling shift and she had been thinking about Kakashi’s request all day. It was now 5:00, so she had an hour to be there if she was going. She still hadn’t made up her mind yet. 

She knew it was unfair to not give him the opportunity to tell his side of the story, but she was terrified of what he might say. She was afraid that he would tell her it had all been some big mistake that he regretted. She was equally terrified that he would have some illusion of being in love with her, that he would want to be with her just to hold onto some piece of Saki.

Neither were anything that she wanted to face.

She was walking down the street lost in her own thoughts when she heard a familiar voice laughing a few feet away, Genma.

If there was anyone who could help her figure out Kakashi, it would be Genma. She strolled up the fence that surrounded the outdoor tables where Genma and some other shinobi were sitting.

“Hey, there Pinky,” one of the men spoke up. “Did you come to join us?”

“Back off Ketz, she’s a woman that’s spoken for.”

“Actually, Genma. I wanted to talk to you about that,” she explained in a hushed voice. It didn’t stop the other men at the table from snickering about it, though.

“Yeah, sure. Over this way,” he said as he gestured to a small area where no one was sitting.

“So, what can I help you with?” Genma asked her as soon as they were out of earshot.

Sakura turned to face him, “You’re Kakashi’s best friend.”

Genma nodded.

“Why did he do it?” she asked. “And don’t play dumb, I know you know what’s going on. You have been around Sukea multiple times, you know he’s Kakashi’s henge. Between Kakashi and Ino, I’m willing to bet you know just about everything there is to know about our situation.”

She had him there, he did indeed know just about every detail. “You want to know why he was being Sukea, why he was dating you, or why he almost slept with you after he knew who you were?” Genma asked.

“All of it! Why? Why did he do any of this?”

“Why are you here asking me instead of asking him yourself?”

“Because Kakashi isn’t going to tell me anything. He just isn’t like that.” 

Genma realized that Ino had been right; the girl in front of him was on the verge of being desperate.

“Look, he’s had a hard life. But just because he doesn’t say it verbally doesn’t mean that he doesn’t feel it. He shows you with his actions more than anything.”

“Well, the only thing that Kakashi has ever shown me with his actions is that he hates me.”

“I don’t think that’s bullshit and I also think that you know it,” he told her bluntly. “He’s done plenty for you as Kakashi and even more for Saki as Sukea. Regardless of what you looked like or what you called yourself, your actions got you where you are today, and tomorrow you’ll be where your actions today take you.“

Sakura was speechless; she didn’t need Genma to tell her that her own actions and decisions were the reason she was in this situation. In the back of her mind, she knew he was right. Maybe she really did just need to suck it up and talk to Kakashi herself, but her stubbornness and her fears were keeping her from doing that. 

“A lot of help you are,” she scowled before walking off. Seriously, what was with Genma and Ino being on Kakashi’s side? He was wrong too.

* * *

  
  
  


Sakura reached the path that split off towards the bridge. Straight led her home, and right led to the bridge where Kakashi was waiting for her. It was about a ten minute walk either way. 

Sakura wasn’t sure how long she stood there lost in her own thoughts. 

Someone calling her name broke her thoughts. Looking around she saw a young man approaching her and calling out her name. She didn’t recognise him, but he obviously knew her.

He finally reached her, panting and out of breath as he said, ”Thank goodness I found you, we have an emergency.”

An emergency? Who was this man? “I’m sorry, who are you, and what are you talking about?”

“It’s Kakashi-sama, he’s been gravely injured in an attack. He sent me to find you, he said that only you could save him.”

Sakura’s heart jumped to her throat. Kakashi was hurt somewhere? How? Who? How was this man involved?

“How do you know this?” Sakura asked him hesitantly.

“Kakashi-sama was waiting on the bridge when a group of missing-nin attacked. I was on guard duty and attempted to assist him, but they injured him greatly before I could get there. They fled the scene when I showed up. He sent me to find you, and he said he would die without you!”

Sakura went into full panic mode. “Take me to him,” she demanded.

The man nodded. “This way!” he shouted as he took off. 

The entire way, Sakura kept darting her eyes around looking for Kakashi. She was trying her best not to panic but she was beyond worried about him. How badly is he hurt, why did these people attack him? She vaguely realized that they were not heading in the direction of the bridge where Kakashi had been waiting for her, but she was too busy worrying about Kakashi to think too much about it.

A few minutes later they were in a deserted area of the village. There was very little light and virtually no noise.  _ Something feels wrong about this _ , Sakura thought to herself just before something hard made contact with the side of her head. She saw four men standing over her talking about  _ getting the word out to Kakashi _ just before everything went black.

* * *

  
  
  


Kakashi was waiting at the bridge for Sakura. It was now 8:00. He sighed and hung his head in defeat; she didn’t show. She didn’t want to talk to him, and she didn’t want to work things out. Kakashi was more hurt by this than he had imagined that he would be, though he supposed he couldn’t blame her. He had screwed things up with her pretty bad. He decided a strong drink was needed to get him through the night.

He walked to the nearest bar and took a seat. He ordered a drink and downed it immediately, then ordered another. A woman approached and took the seat beside him, her long black hair brushing against his arm as she leaned against the bar.

She smiled at him and ordered a drink for herself. “Are you here alone or are you waiting for someone?” she asked him.

“I was waiting for someone, but it doesn’t look like she’s going to show,” he said as he downed his second drink and ordered another.

“I can keep you company if you want,” she told him with obvious ‘I want you’ eyes.

He had just been dumped and a beautiful woman was offering herself to him on a platter, and yet he had absolutely no interest in accepting her offer. He wanted Sakura and only Sakura. Taking another woman home wasn’t going to change that or fill the void her absence had created.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m going to have to decline,” he told her.

“Are you sure?”

He chuckled at her. “I’m sure.”

“If you say so. I hope she’s worth it though,” she said as she grabbed her drink and slid down from the chair.

“She is,” was all he said.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you some much everyone for all of your support. You guy's really are amazing. I will be starting a new story soon, I hope to see you all there!
> 
> It's been an emotional ride for Kakashi and Sakura so without further ado, the finial chapter to The One Night Henge.
> 
> Enjoy!

The first thing Sakura noticed when she woke up was the horrible pain in the side of her head. Immediately after, she realized that she was laying on something hard and cold. As she opened her eyes, she noticed that she was in some kind of concrete building with her hands tied together, and that she wasn’t alone.

About five feet from her was a door—she could hear two men talking on the other side of it. Sakura shivered, it was cold and she had no source of heat. She tried to use her chakra to warm her blood and increase body temperature in such a situation as this.

“ _No_!” she whispered to herself. Her chakra was being blocked by something. That’s when she noticed the sharp pain in her side. She shifted again, feeling a soreness in her side. She assumed it was from some sort of injection.

_Great._ How was she supposed to escape these men without any chakra? Who were these men and why had they abducted her? She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of footsteps drawing closer to her. She looked up and came face to face with the guy that had led her to her ambush under the pretenses that Kakashi was badly injured.

Sakura went into a small panic all over again, K _akashi! He had been injured. Was he okay? Where was he?_ She scowled at him. “Who are you and where is Kakashi?” she demanded. 

The man laughed at her, “My name is Yohiro Motoki and Kakashi should be on his way to save you soon,” he answered.

“If that were true, then you would be a fool to find it funny,” she snapped back at him.

“I look forward to it,” he said simply. The tone in his voice and the look on his face gave Sakura a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. Never in her life had she seen someone take a threat from Kakashi Hatake so lightly.

“How would he even know that I’m gone?” she asked. She wanted to get as much information out of her abductors as she could.

“Because I have someone waiting to tell him about your abduction. They are on their way to give him his invitation as we speak. They are to bring him here to me.”

“Why do you want Kakashi?”

“Because he massacred my clan in cold blood. I’ve spent years waiting to repay him.” The man's smug expression changed into one of utter disgust and hate. 

These men wanted to hurt Kakashi, probably even kill him. Sakura had to do something, anything to keep them from luring Kakashi to his death. She laughed in the man’s face. “Too bad for you that won’t work. Kakashi won’t come here for me,” she told him. She knew it was a lie; Kakashi would always give his life for someone else, no matter who it was.

Then the man's smug look returned, “I don’t think that’s true. I’m certain that he would give just about anything for you!”

“What makes you so sure?” she asked.

“Because he is in love with you!” the man explained. “We have been watching him for weeks. We have been watching both of you. We know all about the little game the two of you have been playing.” He paused and simply stared at Sakura for a long moment, maybe trying to gage her reaction. 

“He’ll come for you!” he reassured her before she felt the sting of a needle in her side. Her mind instantly went cloudy and her limbs grew incredibly heavy. 

* * *

  
  


Kakashi had just left the bar and was now making his way home alone. He wished Sakura was with him; he ached for her. He sighed. Maybe he should try going to her house? But he had told her that if she didn’t show up then he would respect her decision. _Home it is, then._

“Kakashi Hatake,” a man called from the shadows.

Kakashi instantly took a defensive position. How did he not notice someone so close by? The man emerged from the shadows and made his way closer to Kakashi. Kakashi braced himself for a fight; he didn’t like the feeling that he was getting from this man.

“I have no intentions of fighting you. I am merely here as a messenger.”

“Alright,” Kakashi said, but he didn’t break his defensive pose. “What’s the message that you have for me?”

“An invitation,” the man said before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a white cloth. He opened it and showed Kakashi the item within. It was Sakura’s necklace. He dangled it in plain view, making sure that there was no mistaking the item.

Why did they have that? How did they get it? Was Sakura hurt? Kakashi lunged forward and pressed a kunai to the man’s throat. “Where is she?” Kakashi demanded.

“With our leader. He sent the necklace as proof that we have her, along with an invitation to you to save her,” the man explained.

“Why would he think that I care about an old teammate so much that I would fall into such an obvious trap?” Kakashi asked, although he was pretty sure that he already knew the answer.

“Because we have been watching you both for weeks. We know how you feel about her and we know how much you value her. That’s why we took her. I’m here to bring you to her.”

Kakashi tightened his grip on the man but nodded in agreement. He released the man from his hold, and they began making their way to the village gates, Kakashi mentally promising to kill anyone if they had harmed Sakura.

* * *

  
  
  


Following his escort's gestures to the left, Kakashi entered the part of the hideout where Yohiro was waiting for him.

He wasn’t waiting alone. There, on the ground before him, was Sakura. She didn’t look well; she was bleeding from her head, and she seemed to be only half conscious, like she had been heavily drugged. 

Kakashi’s eyes met with her captor, Yohiro Motoki. He had Sakura on her knees facing Kakashi, holding her in place with a hand full of pink hair. This situation was bad; he needed to convince Yohiro to let Sakura go. 

“You have no reason to keep her any longer. Sakura has nothing to do with this. Just let her go and you can do whatever you want with me.” Kakashi was hoping that his reasoning would work against the man.

Yohiro tugged on Sakura’s hair, forcing her to stand up, her back flush against his front. He pulled a kunai up to her throat with his other hand.

“Yohiro, I swear I’ll kill you for hurting her...” Kakashi warned. He didn’t like the fact that these men had kept Sakura tied up and helpless. He certainly didn’t like how Yohiro was touching her right now.

“I haven’t touched her...yet!” Yohiro smirked at Kakashi.

Kakashi tensed. It was slight, but Yohiro had seen it. “I was waiting for you to get here for that. I wanted you to see me take what’s most precious to you like I watched you do to me all those years ago,” he said as he pulled Sakura’s head back a little further.

Yohiro clearly enjoyed getting under Kakashi’s skin, and he was not above using Sakura to do it. He continued to taunt Kakashi with Sakura, brushing his fingers along Sakura’s face before licking her neck in a manner that made Kakashi feel sick. He could see Sakura attempting to pull away from him, fighting against the drugs. 

“She’s very beautiful, Kakashi. Maybe I’ll keep her for a little while after I kill you.”

Kakashi’s blood was boiling; if he didn’t do something then, Yohiro had every intention of doing the most unspeakable of things to Sakura right in front of him as a way of revenge. Kakashi couldn’t let that happen. He threw a shuriken as a diversion, knowing Yohiro would move to dodge it. He did, dropping a limp Sakura to the ground in the process. 

Taking the opportunity, Kakashi launched himself forward for an attack, kunai at the ready. When they collided, the sound of metal against metal rang out through the cave. Yohiro laughed in Kakashi’s face as both men battled for the upper hand, pleased with himself for being able to get such a reaction from the stoic Kakashi.

The two men broke apart, only to come back together a moment later with a loud metallic clang of their kunai. Kakashi didn’t like how well this man was holding up against his attacks. With Sakura in her current state, she wouldn’t be able to fight back if he lost this fight.

This fight wasn’t just about himself. Kakashi wasn’t just fighting for his only life this time. He was fighting for Sakura’s too, and losing her wasn’t an option. Kakashi pulled out another kunai and made a quick move for Yohiro’s head, but he dodged it and immediately countered with a swift kick to Kakashi’s side.

The kick sent Kakashi flying across the room. This was bad; Kakashi knew that this was an even fight. He needed to end this quickly, the longer the fight went on, the greater his chance of losing to his opponent became. Kakashi rolled to his feet and steadied himself for another attack.

He knew that the best way to beat someone matching his own power level was to outsmart them. So he waited for Yohiro to make his move. He did, cocky and arrogant, thinking that he had Kakashi backed into a corner. Kakashi faked left but dodged left at the last second, making contact with his kunai in Yohiro’s blind spot. 

Yohiro dropped to the ground, bleeding heavily. For a moment Kakashi thought that he had won, but then another man entered the room and immediately went on the attack. Kakashi ducked, dodging a sword meant to take his head off. Spinning around he landed a swift kick to the swordsman’s head, knocking him unconscious.

A third man came running through the doorway, the one who had found him in Konoha and led him here. His hands went through a series of hand signs before slamming them on the ground. In response, a large rock formation sprung up from the ground and hurled towards Kakashi.

Going through his own hand signs, Kakashi countered with his earth style jutsu. When the two jutsu collided, they created a massive earthquake. The entire building shook and large chunks of the concrete building were starting to crumble. Kakashi looked over to Sakura, who was trying to crawl away from the falling rocks.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi saw Yohiro. He was stumbling towards Sakura, kunai in hand. Yohiro looked at Kakashi and smirked before lashing forward at incredible speed for an injured man. He was two steps away from colliding with Sakura when Kakashi’s Lightning Blade pierced through his chest. 

Blood poured from Yohiro’s mouth as his body went limp around Kakashi’s hand. He wheezed, grabbing at Kakashi’s jacket. 

Kakashi leaned in closer to him, “You should have left her out of this.” Kakashi extracted his hand from the man’s chest and let him fall to the ground. He looked over to the last man standing, who gave him a terrified look before taking off out the door.

Kakashi didn’t bother chasing after him; there was no time for that. The building was coming down and he needed to get Sakura and himself out of there, now. He scooped Sakura up in his arms and sprinted for the exit.

They made it out just in time. Moments after they cleared it, the building collapsed. 

* * *

  
  


Kakashi was about halfway back to Konoha when Sakura began convulsing in his arms. He stopped and laid her out on the grass. She looked even worse than before. He tried to find some reason for her worsening condition but couldn’t see anything that was obvious.

He wasn’t sure what to do; he didn’t have any medical knowledge to assess her condition. The best thing that he could do for her was to get her back to Konoha to have Tsunade treat whatever they’d given to her. He picked her back up and cradled her in his arms tightly as he set off for Konoha as fast as his body would go. 

When he reached the gates, he didn’t stop. Sakura was steadily getting worse in his arms. He burst through the door to Tsunade’s office at the hospital and collapsed on the floor, still holding Sakura tightly against him. Tsunade immediately jumped up and came to Sakura’s aid.

“Kakashi, what happened?” she asked him

“She was abducted last night by the Motoki clan, they gave her some kind of drug. I don’t know what, but she’s getting worse.” Kakashi told her as tears began to prickle in his eyes.

Tsunade began a full body scan on Sakura, then determined that it was a very strong sedative that Sakura had been given too much of. She was overdosing, and if they didn’t start treatment immediately, it would most definitely cause heart failure. 

As Tsunade started treatment on Sakura, a nurse came in and tried to look over Kakashi. He shrugged her off, refusing any treatment until he knew that Sakura would be okay. Tsunade had taken Sakura into an operating room and Kakashi was forced to wait outside the room. 

Several hours later, Tsunade had finished doing all that she could do. “Only time will tell now. I have extracted all of the substance that I could, but the amount that had already been absorbed into her organs was substantial.”

“Will she live?” Kakashi asked.

“Yes, but I can’t be sure when she will wake up. If she ever does,” Tsunade explained.

“I see, “ was all he could muster up to say.

Tsunade wasn’t sure what had happened or what had been happening between Kakashi and Sakura, but she knew that broken look on a man’s face. Kakashi loved Sakura deeply. She remembered realizing that she loved Jiraiya, though it had been too late to do anything about it. Now Kakashi may be facing that same regret. 

“Kakashi.”

He looked up at her, eyes glazed over. 

“If she does come back to us, don’t screw it up this time. I don’t want you and Sakura to end up like me and Jiraiya. I’ll leave you alone with her for now. I’ll check in in a few hours.” Then she left the room.

Tears formed in Kakashi’s eyes. He hadn’t fought for Sakura when she pushed him away. He had been a coward and he might never get the chance to fix that. _What if she never wakes up? I would never again hear her laugh, I would never again see her smile._ Tears ran down Kakashi’s face. _I’ll never be able to hold her again, or make love to her again. I’ll never see her blush for me when I tease her. I’ll never hear her voice say my name ever so softly._

Kakashi reached out and wrapped his arms around Sakura, pulling her in close to him and let all the pain, sadness, and fatigue take him under. He fell asleep crying into Sakura’s pink hair as he held her tightly to his chest.

* * *

  
  
  


When Sakura awoke, she felt something warm and heavy pressed tightly against her. So tightly she was having trouble breathing. She cracked her eyes open and looked around—she was home, in the hospital. She looked beside her to the warm heavy thing pinning her down.

“Kakashi,” she whispered. He stirred next to her. She was trying to figure out how she had gotten home and why Kakashi was there next to her. Then the fuzzy memories of the night before all came flooding back. She looked down at him once again. His eyes were open this time, and he was looking at her.

“Sakura, are you alright?” he asked as he sat up.

“I’m fine Kakashi. You can leave now.” She didn’t want to face him right now; she couldn’t. 

“Sakura…” Kakashi started.

Sakura could feel the panic welling up inside of her. He was going to try to have that talk right here and now. She wasn’t ready for it; she had to get him out of there.

“Kakashi, I can’t right now. I just can’t.” she told him.

Kakashi wasn’t going to give up on her easily, but he understood that she needed some time to take in everything that had happened. “You don’t have to talk to me right now, but I’m not leaving.”

If Sakura were being honest, she didn’t really want him to leave. Even before the whole henge situation, Kakashi’s presence had always been a comfort, and she always felt safe when with him. So she nodded, and they said nothing else.

* * *

  
  
  


Sakura was released from the hospital the next day. Kakashi had refused to leave her side the entire time, and he had insisted on walking her home. He had stayed true to his word so far in not saying anything, and she wanted him there, so she let him walk her home.

When they reached her house, he asked if she wanted him to stay. Her mouth said no, while her heart screamed yes. He gave a silent nod and left. That had been a week ago. 

He came by every day to check on her, bringing her food and making sure she ate. He always asked how she was sleeping. He always asked if there was anything she needed him to do and offered to listen if she wanted to talk about her abduction but never tried to make her talk about their henge issue. She was grateful for that. He always offered to stay with her, and she always decided to regret it the second the door closed behind him.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Sakura walked in her front door carrying a bag of groceries. It was the first time she had been grocery shopping since her abduction. Kakashi had been bringing her two meals a day for the past week, so she hadn’t been too pressed to go grocery shopping.

She laid her keys on the table beside her door and walked her bag of groceries to the kitchen. She set the bag on the kitchen counter and went to turn on the lights. She reached the light switch and turned it on. When she turned back around, she was faced with a maskless Kakashi standing in her kitchen.

_What the hell is he doing?_ He had never just let himself in before, especially when she wasn’t even home. He had already come by for the day, so why was he here now?

Kakashi had been patient with Sakura through their entire ordeal. He understood that she needed breathing room after her abduction, and he understood that she needed time to think about their henge situation. But he knew she wanted him close by. She always looked sad when he left and was more relaxed while he was there.

“What are you doing here, Kakashi?” Sakura asked in a voice almost too small to hear.

“We need to talk about what happened between us, Sakura.”

Oh no. She wasn’t ready for that. He had been so good about not bringing it up that Sakura was hoping that he had let it go. She made a dash for the door. But Kakashi was up and on her heels in an instant, standing in front of the door effectively blocking her from running away.

“Kakashi, what are you doing?”

“We need to talk about this, Sakura,” he said softly. 

“No, we don’t, Kakashi, there is nothing to talk about,” she spat, as she backed away from him.

He was in front of her in two steps, so close that she could feel the heat coming off his body. “Yes, there is. You can’t keep running from this Sakura, from us.” 

“There is no us, Kakashi. It was all a lie, none of it was real. Saki and Sukea fell in love, not us.”

“It wasn’t for me. Yes, I lied about my name. But everything else I ever told you was true. All those things that I shared with you, the details about my life, all of the demons I let you see, it was all true. I have never let anyone in like I have with you.”

“No, it was all fake.” 

“Do you really believe that, or are you just telling yourself that because you’re afraid?”

She didn’t answer. He knew it—she wanted this, she was just too afraid to take the chance. He had to prove to her that she was safe with him.

Cupping her face with both hands, he gently caressed her cheeks with his thumbs as she looked at him. He leaned in close to her, almost nose to nose. “I promise you that I will never hurt you.” She tried to look away, but he held her gaze.

It was now or never. “Sakura, I love you! More than anything. I’ve never wanted anyone or anything as much as I want a life with you.” 

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head in disbelief. She was going to be stubborn, but he was having an effect on her. He just needed to get through that last wall. “If you truly believe that, then look me in my face right now and tell me that you don’t love me.”

Her eyes locked with his once again, but she couldn’t do it. Because she did love him. 

Her big green eyes filled with tears as she looked up at him. “I can’t,” she choked out. Her hands were grasping at his shirt tightly. “Kakashi, I...” She started to sob. “I...” 

Her body shook from the heavy crying as she buried her face in his chest. “Kakashi, I’m scared. I love you so much! What if this doesn’t work out? What if you realize that you don’t really love me?” she asked through choked sobs.

He wrapped his arms around her a little tighter. “That won’t happen, my love,” he told her soothingly.

Gently grabbing her chin with his thumb and index finger, he turned her head to face him before dipping his own head to press his lips to hers. The kiss was shy and tentative at first, but soon it grew more heated. 

Sakura wrapped both arms around Kakashi’s neck as their kiss deepened. 

“Sakura,” he said between kisses, “I want to,” trailing kisses along her jawline,”to make love to you.” he finished.

Sakura pulled back just enough to look him in the eyes. What she saw there erased any doubts that may have lingered in her mind. What she saw was that same raw emotion that she loved so much about Sukea. 

She had never thought that a man like Kakashi was capable of such feelings, but here he was, baring it all just for her.

She smiled at him lovingly before pulling on his jacket and tugging it off. The rest of their clothes soon followed, leaving a trail to her bedroom. Once on the bed Kakashi, took a moment to look down at her beneath him and for the first time see her in pink and green. He swore it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

He kissed her lovingly and soon they were making love with sweet whispers to each other. Sakura’s heart fluttered as she looked up at Kakashi. She decided that no matter what happened after this, nothing was going to ruin this for them. She loved him and he loved her. 

Kakashi placed a hand underneath Sakura, between her back and the bed. Giving him a better angle to thrust even deeper inside of her. He thought about how much he had wanted to be with her like this as himself for so long, to hear her call out his name and not Sukea. 

“Sakura,” he rasped in her ear. “Say my name.” he told her.

It took a moment for Sakura to register what he was saying. His thrusts became long and deep, and she found it difficult to concentrate with the feeling of him inside of her.

“I need to hear you say my name, Sakura,” he told her again. “Say it when you cum for me,” he said as he continued his pace.

Sakura felt something clench in her chest at his words, a few more thrusts and she was coming undone beneath him and calling out his name over and over. At the sight and sound of Sakura, Kakashi couldn’t hold himself back any longer and released himself along with her.

He collapsed on the bed beside her and wrapped his arms around her pulling her close to him. Before they could fall asleep, Sakura had one last thing on her mind. “Kakashi?”

“Hn.” 

“Does our situation scare you too?” she asked tentatively.

“It scares the shit out of me,” he answered honestly.

“Then why was it so easy for you to decide that you wanted to pursue this?”

He opened his eyes and looked down at her. “Because when I thought about a life without you, it scared me more.”

Sakura’s heart burst with love. She tucked herself into his side and let out a content sigh. Because there was nowhere else that either of them would rather be.

_FIN_


End file.
